Posts with tag arakkoa

All in all, I think the World of Warcraft questing experience is easier than ever. Quests can be tracked and shown on the screen, locations are automatically marked on your map, and anything you need to kill -- or anything that drops quest items you need -- is marked clearly when you approach, with more details when you mouse over. While some of the mystery may be gone, a lot of the annoyance has gone with it.

However, while the overall experience is much better, you do run in to the occasional quest that seems to be stubbornly holding out to Blizzard's new, streamlined questing philosophy. Quests that require you to kill ten beasts for a single tooth to drop (why don't they all have teeth?) or run around for an hour (or more) waiting on painfully slow respawns. Recently, while leveling through Outland, I ran into the quest Veil Lithic: Preemptive Strike, which asked me to redeem 3 arakkoa hatchlings and slay 3 arakkoa hatchlings who couldn't be redeemed. It seemed simple enough: Veil Lithic had several nests that spawned eggs. When the eggs spawned, all I had to do was click on them to free the hatchling, which would either fly off or become aggressive. Except after freeing 3 hatchlings, no more clickable eggs appeared. Not in 20 minutes, not in an hour, and not in two -- and though I did manage to collect a lot of arakkoa feathers, the whole thing seemed like a big timesink (several days later, I've still only managed to slay 2 out of 3 hatchlings). At this rate, my attention span is certain to run out before the quest does. (In fact, I'm surprised it's lasted this long.)

And what about you? Have you run into any quests -- now or in the past -- that are the stuff World of Warcraft nightmares are made of?

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Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.

Every time the pandaren get mentioned in The Queue, we end up with a week straight of pandaren headers, themes and puns. I'm going to break that trend and completely avoid the topic of the pandaman in this edition of The Queue and hopefully end the horrible cycle of pain.

riley asked:

Do you think Warcraft ever seen an ending to its story or will Blizzard keep adding content and lore until they subscriber numbers drop below profitability? Will we ever get to fight Sargeras or will the servers just shut down in the middle of the 6th expansion?

So I've been thinking a lot about lore lately, and one thing that's been nagging for a long time is how fast some really cool and interesting storyline and organizations seem to fade into the background once the patch or zone that focuses on them is over and done.

Example prime might be the Ethereals. They were an amazing group. The Consortium was Goblins except with actual charisma, business savvy, common sense, and inventions that worked. The Protectorate was a pretty badass group of elite fighters battling the forces of darkness. Even the Ethereum had a story of tragedy and corruption to make the Scarlet Crusade look like amateurs at the whole fanatic game.

But in Wrath? Okay, we get some Ethereum hanging out with Malygos' posse, but that's it. Poof. Ethereals are all but gone. I would have loved to see them selling their Eco-dome tech to settlers in Northrend's snowy areas or something, or handing us monthly gem bags for Frost Wyrm Ivory.

Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, where each week blogger and columnist Alex Ziebart answers your questions about the lore and history of the World of Warcraft. Ask your questions in the comments section below, and we'll try to answer it in a future edition.

Good morning, everyone! My apologies for missing last week's Ask a Lore Nerd, I am apparently very, very bad at time management and I lost track of things while trying to finish furnishing my apartment. We're back in action this week though, so it's all good!

Before we get started, I also wanted to remind people that Tokyopop is letting us read Warcraft: Legends for free until the 17th. I know Daniel mentioned it already this morning, but seeing as this is the lore column of the day, I just wanted to mention it again. Just imagine me as the hammer trying to drive this nail into your head. You can read it for free. And now we get the show on the road!

naixdra asked...

Why do the Orcs call Draenor, Draenor? Didn't the Draenei show up out of nowhere and call it that, so why would the native Orcs adopt the name given to it by outsiders (and still refer to it after their attempted annihilation of said outsiders)?

Since the beginning of The Burning Crusade, I've wanted playable Ethereals. I don't care which faction or what classes, I just want to play an Ethereal. Heck, if all you could do with an ethereal character is walk around and emote, I would still roll one. I don't know why I'm so infatuated with them, but I pretty much like most things about them. Their design, their towns, the Consortium's debonaire way of operations.

The other Burning Crusade race I want to play is an Arakkoa. Specifically an Arakkoa Priest or Paladin. I don't like the birdmen as much as the blinkymen, but I found myself incredibly intrigued by the few Light-following arakkoa scattered around. I wanted to learn more about them, but there wasn't anymore to learn, unfortunately.

Now that I'm in the Wrath of the Lich King Beta, my new fascination is the Vrykul. Aesthetically, they are by far the most awesome race in WoW, and they're steeped in Norse lore which is just awesome. Their women look like they could destroy me with their bare hands, and the men seem like they have enough hair customization options to put a player race to shame. If these became a player race, I would reroll so fast.

Do you guys have any races you would just love to see playable? I have a lot of friends that would adore the chance to play a Goblin but I couldn't do that personally. Not a fan of Goblins. Are you after something a little more 'out there' like Nerubians? Are you a fan of a race from another setting that you'd love to be added to WoW?

The Burning Crusade has a lot going on in it. In the very first zone you run into the Burning Legion, the Ilidari, the Fel Orcs, the Broken, the Forge Camps, the Mag'har, the Arakkoa, and so much more. This is a pleasant change from so many Azerothian zones seeming very static, fighting the same type of thing from one end of the zone to the other.

I found many of these stories to be very fun and interesting, but some of them just fell flat. For one, the Arakkoa. When the Arakkoa story began with Kirrik the Awakened and Rilak the Redeemed, I was rather excited. This race was pretty cool! The Arakkoa would be the most beast-like of the known Light-worshiping races and a recent addition to the Naaru's 'Army of the Light.' The models for the redeemed Arakkoa were cool, too. A bunch of pretty birds following them around? Neat!

Reader Keirin of Lemmings of the Light on Aszune (EU), sends us this image of a mini-Druid battling against a massive Arakkoa. Is it, as Keirin suggests, a new race of vicious mini-Druids, complete with +20% cuteness buff? Keirin is the first to say, "Overpowered!"

Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? Because we'd love to see your idea of the best looking instance on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!

I don't even know where to start with this one other to say that it made me laugh. Also, I couldn't decide if this was staged (which would be bizarre beyond belief) or if this was found footage. Can anyone place where the footage may have come from?

Either way, watch and enjoy. I just know this is the secret dance those stupid Arakkoa do while their Kaliri harass me from above.

Previously on Moviewatch...

Refugees dwelling in the Bone Wastes not far from the blasted ruin of Auchindoun have reported seeing a bird-man Arakkoa soaring through the sky!

Kirrik the Awakened at the refugee caravan gave a speech today regarding the momentous significance of this sighting: "This is none other than Superarakkoa, the prophesied super-hero of the Arakkoa, come to reform the Arakkoa people and finally get our caravan moving again!" Superarakkoa is widely known among Arakkoa to be the invincible savior of "Truth, Justice, and the Arakkoa Way," only vulnerable to the deadly "dark crystals" or "Thraptonite," from the mythical planet of Thra.

A night elf standing nearby said that the superhero is a hoax. This elf, named Jared, claims to know the hero's secret: "There is a quest for the Skyguard called 'A Shabby Disguise' in which you disguise yourself as an Arakkoa to buy a book from some guy. Well, I discovered that Druids can use their forms while in this disguise and it doesnt change their appearance." Showing us pictures he himself took of the hero (Superarakkoa's personal photographer, apparently), he claimed that the druid in question tried using his epic flight form while disguised, and was thereby able to fly about looking like an Arakkoa. "The disguise can only be used in Terokkar," he said, "but I still think it is a neat trick."

Many thanks to our reader Jared for providing us with the inside scoop on this mystery! We wonder who Superarakkoa's secret identity is... but while we investigate that, what other mysterious uses have you adventurers found for other quests and disguises?

The 2.1 patch this week introduced enough new quest lines, top-end raid content, flying mounts, and L70 solo & small group content to qualify as its own game. With a three day weekend looming I didn't even know where to begin. So I scoured the web and found the where to go and what to do to get me started.

THE BLACK TEMPLE: Already planning to strut around Shattrath in your T6 Raid gear? Don't bank that T5 set too quick. The Black Temple attunement quest is ... epic. And it hasn't even been fully discovered so far. What is known is that you will have to slog through a great deal of the Burning Crusade raid content that comes before it: Karazhan, Gruul's Lair, Magtheridon's Lair, Serpentshire Cavern, The Eye and The Battle of Mount Hyjal. And many of those raids require extensive attunement quests of their own. If you are still itching to begin, you can dig in with the Tablets of Baa'ri chain out of Shadowmoon Valley to start grinding that Ashtongue Deathsworn rep.

NETHERDRAKE EPIC FLYING MOUNT: First, don't confuse this with the Swift Nether Drake top Arena teams are awarded with at the end of every season. That one has a speed increase of 310% and has an armored appearance. This is the normal epic nether drake with a speed increase on par with other epic flying mounts: 280%. What's special about this epic flying mount is that it can be obtained through solo and small group quests. No raid required. What is required is a great deal of dedication.

The first steps on your journey is to dig yourself out of Hated reputation with the Netherwing clan and get all the way to Exalted. This is accomplished through solo, 5 man and 3 man daily quests. Head to the south east corner of Shadowmoon Valley and speak to Mordenai in the Netherwing Fields. A complete write up can be found here.