What about drank a potion to die, just to talk to a ghost?
Have you seen hundreds of ogres turn from Red names to a neutral reputation, all of whom bow to you and dance with you at command?
Does your screen shot folder have pictures of ’you’ as a member of the opposing faction or reputation clan, a wisp, a raven, a mine cart, anything that you normally aren‘t?
If you have, your journey may have been just as crazy as mine has been so far.
I am seeking a new title. No, it’s nothing fantastic, and no it’s not really proof that I have no life. Okay maybe it is proof that I have no life -- I haven’t seen the inside of my gym more than twice since I took this journey on.
What I am talking about are the oh-so-daunting achievements: 3,000 Quests and Loremaster.
If all goes as planned and the Cataclysm expansion doesn’t mess with me, I am hoping to be come Namika the Seeker. Inspired by a recently discovered tv show Legend of the Seeker (Yes that nerdy show. I know. Laugh it up. I love it anyway.), I was ecstatic when I discovered that I too could become The Seeker.
From meet-and-greet quests to the annoying ‘hey go find 20 of these, 10 of these and 1 of these super epicly rare items’, I've discovered 3 key parts that I need to become the Seeker. First, I have to be dedicated to the achievement. Next, I need to know how long my journey will be. I also have to be organized, so that the journey is smooth and easier on my sanity.
Dedication for me struck when I realized a good portion of my quests already completed would be wiped clean in cataclysm. Yes, I am aware that the rezoning of quests will be accompanied by a lovely guide from Blizzard that says ‘you have 30 quests left in Hillsbrad Foothills’, etc. My dedication was not that I would have it so much harder/easier in Cataclysm.
It was that I had never seen the content, and I was determined to see at least ‘old Azeroth’ before the cataclysmic event which changes the shape of questing and leveling in Azeroth forever. I realized that I never really experienced the game. There are so many questing zones I’d never even touched. Zones my guild mates use for leveling simply baffle and confuse me as I’ve never even touched them. These quests, which are second-nature to those playing since pre-bc seem to be insane or demanding to a self-dubbed ‘bc baby’.
Did I know how many quests I would be taking on as a Seeker? Yes. I started with a countdown of roughly 200/550 in Eastern Kingdoms and 360/685 in Kalimdor (Yes, I play Horde.) With a count of under 2,000 quests and the journey of a combined Loremaster and Seeker laid out before me, I had roughly 1,300 quests to go and several continents to do it in.
Was I organized enough for the challenge? Not in the least. However, thanks to some wonderful guildies guiding my footsteps I mixed and matched addons into a godsend for any Loremaster. My addon combination consists of:
- AutoProfitX
- Everyquest
- Carbonite
- Lightheaded
- Loremaster
- MapCoords
It may seem a strange combination for the unversed. Allow me to break it down:
AutoProfitX (very low importance)
This very handy for those who loot everything, as you will often be doing, otherwise you never know what ‘this item starts a quest’ item you may leave behind on a corpse! This inserts a button into your vendor pane which allows all grey items to be quickly sold. It only takes accidentally selling your quest items once before you start relying on this addon more and more. I found it early in my leveling process and now use it at all times on all characters.
Everyquest (high importance)
This addon allows for a quick look-up of all quests in an area. It includes filters by faction and level, lets you ignore quests to remove them from the list.
My favorite use for it was to help trace quest lines backwards to complete disjointed quest lines from my leveling period.
Carbonite. (high importance)
Ah the ever-friendly addon that makes leveling a snap. With a click of a button you can see who drops what quest item, where they are and who to turn it in to. But did you also know the little yellow button on the pop-out Quest Watch will turn each quest giver that still has a quest for you into a scroll on your map? This is amazing for finding that random NPC on the top of a mountain who just happens to start the last quest line for your home stretch.
One warning: It will give you class specific quests (rather annoying how many mage quests there are out there!!) or even profession specific (thanks so much, Thorium Brotherhood). However, you can right click on the scrolls and set the quests on that giver to ‘complete’ so they are not cramping your map!
Lightheaded. (medium importance)
To anyone who uses comments from sites like Wowhead for advice, this is your best friend. It adds a pop-out section on your in-game quest log, which contains the highest rated comments on the quest you have highlighted. It will also show you who to turn a quest in to, their coordinates, and (if using Carbonite) you can click on the coordinates for a handy little ‘go-to’ walk path to get to said quest giver. It also shows you the quest line in its entirety, so you can backtrack through a line and discover where it started or where it is going. Everyquest used with Lightheaded makes finding loose threads in quest lines easy!
Loremaster (high importance)
The name should say it all. For those who are unfamiliar with this sad truth: Not all quests in WoW count towards Loremaster and Seeker. Allow me to say this again: Not all quests count for Loremaster and Seeker.
Wowhead.com is a fantastic place to double check, but it is not always accurate. This addon is also not 100% accurate, but I have found it to be accurate 99% of the time.
This addon helps in 2 main ways:
Everyquest + Loremaster --
This addon places a [L] at the end of the name of quests present in a zone, as noted in my screenshot. The [L] denotes if a quest does or does not count.
Quest log + Loremaster --
in your in-game or carbonite Quest log this will add text into the body of the quest stating ‘Counts towards [achievement]’. Sometimes it will ‘probably count’ or ‘might count’. Often times you can trust ‘probably’ to mean yes, while ‘might’ has a much lower chance of being correct. It also notes the ones which simply do not count. You can toss those from your quest log, ignore the quest giver on carbonite and never look back to those which do not count to make looking for those last 3-4 quests much much easier.
For anyone who is looking forward to taking on Loremaster or Seeker, I highly recommend looking into your add on set before accepting the journey. You will need several water walking potions, much patience, and a helpful guild for when you ‘just don’t get it’. I’d recommend bookmaking your favorite ‘help me’ site from wow, my preference being Wowhead.
Take on the journey, for whatever reasons. It’s fun, it’s profitable (who doesn’t love more gold!) and it gives the feeling of accomplishment when you get closer and closer to your goal. I know I am going to be celebrating when I get Seeker!
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