WoW, I'm Lost!

In episode ten of Skolnick’s Warcraft Less Traveled, he talked in great detail about The Dragons of Nightmare. To get the full story, I highly recommend you listen to that episode.

I did manage to travel to some of the locations mentioned in this episode before Cataclysm. Unfortunately, I was never lucky enough to see a dragon spawn from any of the portals, no matter how often I visited. My best guess is that my timing was never quite right.

Hansbrix and I decided to find out if any of the portals still existed after Cataclysm. Would we be fortunate enough to see a dragon this time?

There are four different locations that one must visit when trying to track down the Dragons of Nightmare. Our first stop was BowShadow. The archway at the start of the path was still here, which we took as a good sign.

Once inside, we could see the portal that the dragon was supposed to spawn from.

Unfortunately, there were absolutely no dragons here.

The lack of dragons made it easy for us to explore the area. There was a brightly lit “shrine”.

We also found a moonwell.

What we couldn’t find, though, were the dragons that we hoped to run into. We made a second trip to BowShadow, at a completely different time, just on the off chance that we would accidentally find the dragons when we arrived. No such luck! Our next stop would be at Twilight Grove.

In episode nine of Warcraft Less Traveled, Skolnick explained how to get to the Arathi Dwarven Farm. This was a location that I did manage to get to before Cataclysm, but, I seem to have lost my screenshots from my original trip. You will just have to take my word for it.

At the time that episode nine of WLT was recorded, there was a quest chain that started with a letter. The letter was held in the hand of an unfortunate Dwarf whose body could be found underwater, trapped beneath some of the rubble from the bridge.

Hansbrix and I managed to find Sully Ballo. Unfortunately, he no longer holds the letter that starts you on a series of quests.

The Arathi Dwarven Farm survived the Cataclysm. Hansbrix and I found it by flying along the coastline. This was much easier than having to swim there!

Murcablo is considering engaging in arson.

A Dwarven Farmer walks around his farm.

The Farmer’s house is still here.

Here is a view of the inside of the house. I think I remember there being a sleeping Dwarf on this bed before Cataclysm. Maybe I’m wrong about that. In any case, there is no one sleeping here now.

Hansbrix and I sat down at the table for some refreshment. We keep telling Fridge that he is too big to be a “lap bear”, but he doesn’t agree.

The “slightly risqué” painting is still here. It looks to me like a barely dressed human female, not unlike the ones you may find dancing on a mailbox in Goldshire.

It seems that the Farmer’s house lacks indoor plumbing.

Not far from the house, there is a stable.

Inside are a couple of rams, and a large rodent.

There is a dock here, but there aren’t any boats.

It seemed to me that there were a lot of cats here the last time I visited. This time, we only found one cat, sitting on the dock.

The only other critter here was a Hare, bouncing through one of the Farmer’s fields.

Not much else to see. Oh, except the ever present Dwarven still.

Blizzard decided to keep the Shrine of the Fallen Warrior in the game after the Cataclysm expansion. This is as it should be, since the shrine is in memory of a real person.

Here is how the Shrine of the Fallen Warrior looks after Cataclysm.

To get to the shrine this time, Hansbrix and I got on our flying mounts, flew over the mountain that the shrine sits on, and came in from above it. This is much less dramatic than if we would have walked up the mountainside, and therefore, somewhat anti-climactic. But, it is still an effective method of getting there.

The fallen Orc is still here, protected by the Spirit Healer.

This Spirit Healer has been given a very significant name.

In episode eight of Warcraft Less Traveled, Skolnick described how to find the Shrine of the Fallen Warrior. This was a destination that I made sure to go visit before Cataclysm.

Here is the Spirit Healer that is guarding the shrine:

Here is the Fallen Warrior she is watching over:

To hear more details about the real person who is represented by the fallen warrior in this shrine, I would recommend listening to the episode of Warcraft Less Traveled. Skolnick explains it better than I can.

And here is a screenshot to show you how big this is:

Before Cataclysm, the only way to get to the Shrine of the Fallen Warrior was to walk up the path on the edge of the mountain that it sits on.

I remember that you couldn’t actually see the shrine until you finally crossed over the last hilly part of the path. Suddenly, you would see the large, glowing, Spirit Healer in front of you. It was really impressive!

Of all the locations that were mentioned on Warcraft Less Traveled, the Elwynn Forest Waterfall was one that I was dead certain still existed after Cataclysm. It is located along a griffon flight path, and I know I’ve seen it many times, from the air, since Cataclysm hit.

This time, instead of making the tedious trek through the Burning Steppes, Hanxbrix and I simply got on our flying mounts, and flew out there.

The house near the house of the waterfall is still there. More on that in a later blog!

Here is a much prettier shot of the waterfall during the day.

The campsite is still here. Hansbrix and his trained bear managed to balance on top of the tent. Ta-da!

The boat is also still there. However, the “magic circle” in the water that allowed you to fish out as much peacebloom as your heart desired seems to be missing.

Slightly farther away from the waterfall, (and much closer to where the forest is on fire), sits this second campsite.

Before Cataclysm, you had to get to the Elwynn Forest Waterfall via the Burning Steppes. I don’t seem to have any screenshots from that part of the trip before Cataclysm, (because it was so incredibly frustrating, and I didn’t want to remember that part of the experience). In the past, there was a group of Dwarves who were getting ready to slay a dragon.

After Cataclysm, there is still a group of Dwarves out there. Most of them are Expeditionary Mountaineers.

They are accompanied by one Expeditionary Priest, (who seems to be very unsure about what to make of Murcablo).

This time, Hansbrix, the mighty Hunter, slayed the dragon!

In episode seven of Skolnick’s Warcraft Less Traveled podcast, he talks about the Elwynn Forest Waterfall.

The Elwynn Forest Waterfall is something that you have probably flown over many times, probably while riding on a griffon. It used to take quite a bit of effort to actually get there and explore it, before Cataclysm.

I did manage to explore this destination before Cataclysm.

Here is a view of the waterfall itself:

There was a campground here:

This was a good place to stand if you want to go fishing for peacebloom. You had to aim for the circle of water that was not a school of fish.

If you hit the right spot, you would end up with as much peacebloom as you care to take the time to fish for. As a Shaman, I had no idea what I was going to do with all of that peacebloom!

Would this lovely little isolated place still be here after Cataclysm? I hoped so! Hansbrix and I set off to try and find the Que’thalas Tower.

Again, we elected to travel by using our flying mounts, instead of by swimming out there. Travel took so much longer before Cataclysm!
We traveled along the coastline, until we hit an invisible wall, that would not allow us to travel any further.

Undaunted, we attempted to fly over the nearby mountains, hoping to get around the invisible wall. No such luck! This path was blocked off, too.

All attempts to maneuver around the invisible wall in this area proved entirely futile. Try as we might, we could not pass.

Perhaps it had something to do with this ominous, yet, at the same time, familiar looking, structure?

We needed a new plan. What if we tried flying past the Scarlet Monastery to the coastline?

No such luck! We kept running into more invisible walls.

More walls awaited us when we finally found a way back to the coastline.

Sadly, it appears that the Quel’thalas Tower is no more.

In episode six of Skolnick’s Warcraft Less Traveled podcast, he gave directions for how to get to the Quel’thalas Tower.

This is a location that I visited more than once before Cataclysm. The first time, it was so that I could attend an RP event. If I remember correctly, I was “summoned” into the location. Obviously, this meant that I had no idea how to actually get there on my own, until I heard this episode of Warcraft Less Traveled.

These screenshots are from my second visit to the Quel’thalas Tower.

Before Cataclysm, the only way to get to this tower (other than being summoned in by someone who was already standing there), was to swim along the coastline. Here is the view of the stone tower that you would see coming up as you were trying to get there:

This is what the area looked like, once you made it onto the shore.

Here is a view from in front of the large tower.

This is as far as you can go. The door could not be opened.

The ruins:

The arch in front of the dock:

A view from the dock:

There was even a little stone table, and some benches:

Before Cataclysm, the Quel’thalas Tower was beautiful place, hidden away in the hills along the coastline. It felt very quiet, and peaceful.

In episode number five of Skolnick’s Warcraft Less Traveled podcast, he talked about the Tanaris Underwater Mining Village.

This was a location that I tried, many times, to get to before Cataclysm. Sadly, my attempts all ended in failure. Therefore, I don’t have any personal screenshots to show you of what this location looked like before Cataclysm.

Instead, I bring you a video. This is not my video. It was created by ReqLeBeax, who successfully visited the Tanaris Underwater Mining Village before Cataclysm.

I now understand why I had such a difficult time trying to get there!

I wondered if the Tanaris Underwater Mining Village still existed after Cataclysm. Hansbrix and I went to the coast of Tanaris, to make an attempt to find it. Based on my past experiences, I wasn’t too optimistic about being able to successfully get there this time.

This time, we didn’t have to swim all the way out there. Our plan was to fly to the right area, and then dive.

We were aiming for where the compass appears, in the Great Sea. The problem was, I wasn’t sure if this compass was actually at the same location that it used to be in before Cataclysm.

Flying out there gives you just as much fatigue as swimming does.

Long before we reached the spot that would have matched up to the compass on the map, we found an unexpected surprise. What’s this?

A bright, shiny, blue wall prevented us from traveling any further.

We couldn’t go through it, or over it. Attempting to swim underneath it also proved impossible.

It looks like the Tanaris Underwater Mining Village is not something that players can get to anymore, after Cataclysm. Perhaps it is still out there, beyond the impassable blue wall, quietly existing under the water, with no visitors to disturb it.

Newman’s Landing is a location in WoW that Skolnick talked about in episode four of his Warcraft Less Traveled podcast. I wondered if Newman’s Landing would still be here, after Cataclysm. It used to be located right on the very edge of the water. Did it get washed away? Hansbrix and I set off to find out!

Instead of swimming around the coast, we were able to just get on our flying mounts, and zoom out there. This is a big improvement!

At first, we were worried that it has been washed away, and that all that remained was what once was the land behind it. Could this be the place where Newman’s Landing once stood?

We continued on, hopeful that we would be able to find it after all. Suddenly, there it was! Newman’s Landing survived the Cataclysm.

This time, the dock had the two Goblin “Booty Bay Bruisers” who I’d heard about, but did not see on my previous visit.

The creepy looking house was still there, too. The ghost of a human female who I’ve heard appears in the doorway did not make an appearence.

Just for the sake of comparison, I took a screenshot of the dock from the same angle as I did on my previous visit. It wasn’t quite so empty this time around.

The broken, sunken, boat remains. The difference is that it is located much deeper beneath the surface of the water now.

The sign, that says “Newman’s Landing” when you scroll over it, is still here. So is the skeleton that sits under it. It seems that his skull has fallen off the knife as a result of the Cataclysm.

When I visited Newman’s Landing before Cataclysm, I neglected to take any screenshots of what the inside of the house looked like. So, I made sure to take one now. I don’t think anything has changed.

Outside the house, there still wasn’t much to see.

Hansbrix and I climbed some of the surrounding hills, just to see what else might be out there. The only thing we found was a lovely view of the moon over the water.

Instead of hearthing back to Stormwind, we decided to log out here. The hope was that when we logged back in the next night, that perhaps, some of the NPCs that we had never seen would be there, waiting for us to meet them.

Our gamble paid off! When we returned, we found High Admiral “Shelly” Jorrick, (now retired), fishing off the pier.

It turns out that he is a vendor, and can fix your armor as well.