Azuarc's Leveling Guide part 23  

Azuarc's leveling guide for Alliance, Act 23: Netherstorm (68-70)

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We're on to what should hopefully be the end of the pre-Lich King guide. As indicated at the end of Act 22, when Lich King comes out, you might want to completely skip over this section and go to Northrend. At this time, it is not known if the jump to Northrend is desirable at 68, or if it's better to power to 70 in old zones. For now, however, Netherstorm is the end of the line. (We also haven't touched Shadowmoon Valley, but, er, we really don't want to.)

Look at that map carefully. You should be able to recognize that Netherstorm is split into 5 main islands. (6 if you count the one Manaforge Ara is on.) The curious thing about questing in Netherstorm is that it is completely segregated by island. There's no crossover AT ALL. So when I say we're going to do all the quests on Area 52's island first, I really mean it. Some of those quest lines eventually leave that island, but you can do all of that southwest island without really coming back.

The other quest hubs in the zone include Midrealm Post, "Town Square" in the ghost town Kirin'var Village, the tiny town of Cosmowrench (flight point), the Consortium headquarters at The Stormspire (flight point), Tuluman's Landing, and Protectorate Watch Post. Yes, we will gradually move to each of those areas. You're welcome to break away and do your own thing at any time, of course.

Preparing for Level 70

During Burning Crusade era, there were a few places that players went as they approached 70 to get some things in order first. One of those was Deadwind Pass to start the keying process for Karazhan. Another was the Caverns of Time, beginning with Old Hillsbrad Foothills so they could get access to The Black Morass -- which was needed for Karazhan keying.

The other item of consequence was getting enough reputation to get heroic keys for each of the major instance hubs. Fortunately you only need Honored reputation rather than Revered now. While the guide has moved away from working on reputation and instance running, it was originally encouraged for Outland zones while Burning Crusade was the focus. If you find yourself in a situation where level 70 is your cap, these may be things to start worrying about.

But even if you aren't stopping at 70 and are continuing on to Lich King's level 80, you'll still need to reach 70 first. So let's get started.

Your quest list:

• Breaking Down Netherock
• Securing the Shaleskin Shale
• The Archmage's Staff
• Wanted: Annihilator Servo!
• You're Hired!
• Consortium Crystal Collection
• Distraction at Manaforge B'naar (Aldor only)
• Manaforge B'naar (Scryer only)

Scene 1 - B'naar (level 68)

Quests completed: Securing the Shaleskin Shale, Aldor/Scryer manaforge quest #1 (see below)

Ride back up the road to the Gyro-plank Bridge, and start crossing the southern wastes where you can attack the Shaleskin Flayers. Collect the drops for Securing the Shaleskin Shale en route to Mana Forge B'naar.

Depending on your faction, Aldor or Scryer, you'll have different quests here, and throughout the Mana Forge quest series. So there's going to be a lot of double descriptions.

Aldor - Distraction at Manaforge B'naar just wants you to kill the basic mobs outside the forge. Bloodwarders are found throughout the area patrolling, and the magisters are in the actual camps.

Scryer - Captain Arathyn rides a hawkstrider on a small hill along the road before the actual Manaforge, and should be a fairly easy kill for Manaforge B'naar

Complete your appropraite quest and return to A52.

Scene 2 - Enkaat (level 68)

Quests completed: Mark V is Alive!, You're Hired!, Report to Engineering

Ride up the northern road again, and talk to Bot-Specialist Alley. After that, prepare yourself for an escort, and talk to the robot next to her. The quest is marked group, but with careful management, it should be acceptable. Just follow normal escort etiquette -- stay behind your ward, don't aggro anything they don't, and defend them when they get into trouble. As time permits, grab some of the little crystal things on the ground as well, but don't jeopardize the escort to do it. You can always go back into the ruins solo later. There are a couple spots that can get nasty, so if you fail the escort, don't worry about doing it a second time. It's really not that big a deal.

Return to Area 52 and get the follow-up quests after talking to Alley.

Scene 3 - Arklon (level 68)

Quests completed: The Archmage's Staff, Consortium Crystal Zapping, Invaluable Asset Zapping

Travel east to the Ruins of Arklon. If you see a nether ray along the way, stop and kill it. The ruins themselves are filled with demons, especially felhounds. Fight into the central area, and you should see a central altar, various odd goblin objects in different directions, and a named demon in the back. Clear your way around the altar and use the powder given to you by Ravandwyr to summon Ekkorash the Inquisitor. Kill her for the staff. Then set out to teleport the goblin belongings back to Area 52. One of them is back by Pentatharon, who you need to kill anyway. With Arklon Crystal Artifact in hand and the four assets zapped, return to Area 52.

Scene 4 - the Great North (level 68)

Quests completed: Rebuilding the Staff, That Little Extra Kick, Recharging the Batteries, Dr. Boom, Essence for the Engines, Curse of the Violet Tower

Wouldn't you know it, we get another quest for the Ruins of Enkaat. Go back up there and beat up on some random ghosts. The drop rate is good, so this should conclude quickly. From there, go a little bit to the east and attack the Mana Wraiths throughout the area. Their drop rate is *not* good, so this should not conclude quickly.

As you're moving east, you may stumble across an area called Camp of Boom. This is somewhere you need to be as well. Killing Dr. Boom is tricky, because you can't actually fight him. He'll nuke the heck out of you if you get too close, his walking bombs make it hard to get near him anyway, and he has a zillion HP if you try to shoot him to death. (Actually, about 600k if memory serves me.) The trick to killing Dr. Boom is the Boom's Doom grenades you have. Right click them, sneak between the bombs to get close enough to throw them at him -- no closer -- and then move back out until the cooldown finishes. Repeat 5 times.

The final task for this session is to get out to the northern edge of the island and fight the Phase Hunters and Nether Rays for their respective quests. Both drain mana and can be VERY annoying to casters, so you might choose to skip these quests. After fighting mana wraiths that sap mana as well, you might have had enough of those shenanigans. However, if you hang in there and kill the rays and worms, return to Alley outside of Enkaat before returning to town.

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