Journeys in Azeroth Archives:

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Part VI

Part VII

Part VIII

Part IX

Part X

Part XI

Part XII

Part XIII

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Journeys in Azeroth XIII

Rumble in the Jungle

Warning: Throughout this article there will be several spoilers related to World of Warcraft. If this is a concern to you, please do not read any further. This is the only spoiler warning you will receive.

Un’Goro Crater is one of those nifty high-level places in World of Warcraft that is really fun to level in, but has a tendency to take forever to get to if you’re an Alliance player. Up to this point, I’ve grumbled quite a bit every time that I make a trip just to Taranis, hopping on a hippogryph in Auberdine, and going on a long, long flight just to make it to the swamps so I can switch to a griffon and finish my journey. Making it out to Un’Goro takes even longer since players have to hop on their mount and ride out to the nether regions of Tanaris just to get to the entrance. Despite the incredibly long trip, that’s where I’ve been spending the majority of my time the last little bit while adventuring in Azeroth.

As far off in the middle of nowhere as Un’Goro may be, the area is a lot of fun to play in. When I first arrived there I was only a little ways into level 49, so I was extremely limited as to what sorts of beasts I could pit my rogue against, being forced to largely stick to the various Ravasaurs in the area (raptor-like creatures). There are plenty of other areas in the game that have their fair share of raptors wandering around in them, but this crater is crawling with the things. This is the first time I’ve really found myself needing to make liberal use of my rogue’s Distract ability to sneak up on a mob and ambush it, then pull like mad before its buddies decide to join in on the fun. The best part about all of this is that I had forgotten to restock on flash powder before coming all this way, so no Vanish for me. I could have made a trip to the closest shady dealer, but with all of the traveling that I had already done I just wasn’t up for it.

The fighting wasn’t too bad, though, even without being able to disappear in a pinch. One just has to bide their time here. As an area to grind in, it’s difficult to recommend this area unless players are at least level 55 because these raptors hit hard, and can cause a lot of down time. So, why was I fighting these things at my level, then? That’s easy. I’ve had to get tons of Un’Goro soil samples for a bunch of different quests this week. It seems that a couple of factions in the night elves’ ranks are particularly interested in the stuff. The soil takes a while to get in large quantities since players need to look for small mounds of the stuff that spawn and can be picked like herbalism, as well as through the occasional Ravasaur drop.

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Eventually, I had enough of the stuff to mix it in my magic pouch with some seeds the night elves gave me, and once it starts processing it really is a crapshoot if players will be able to get a batch of morrowgrain, which is the final product that the night elves want out of the Un’Goro soil. So far, I’ve been getting a one in three chance to actually produce the stuff, where the rest of the time I’ve wound up getting random herbs, which suits me just fine considering that my rogue is an alchemist.

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But besides wandering around Un’Goro, smacking around raptors, and digging up dirt samples, I decided to take the time to explore the area a little bit, and see the sites. Because my rogue is on the lower end of the level spectrum for this area, I had to stay stealthed a whole lot, and be very careful when walking past monsters. With Un’Goro, the whole area looks like a vast, overgrown, old growth tropical rain forest. There are massive trees everywhere, separated by large ponds, and even a gigantic volcano in the middle. There really is very little sign of civilization in this region, just lots and lots of wildlife. The whole area gives off the sense that it hasn't been touched in centuries, allowing nature to simply do its thing unabated.

However, there is yet another Silithus colony on the Western edges of the jungle. The brief descriptions of this ancient insectoid race, and the power they possessed thousands of years ago has suggested from very early on that eventually they will play a major role in this game. Reading the few books in Tanaris, and other areas that describe them really does imply that they will come back one day. Seeing these colonies throughout Southern Kalimdor just further pushes the point through its suggestion that the Silithus are on the move.

Of course, now that WoW’s update notes for the 1.8 content patch have been announced, it looks like this is exactly what we’re going to see in the not so distant future, what with the major changes planned for the Silithus zone, as well as the various quests that are expected to be added there.

I shan’t be heading over there for a while yet, though, as I just started poking around the Plaguelands in the last few days. I’m pushing my luck a little bit, and have to rest a lot, but I’m slowly getting a better reputation with the Argent Dawn in the meantime. Hopefully in the next few weeks I can start trading in some points to get a few nifty items from their quartermaster.

Mr. Nash

September 29, 2005


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