Loremaster Revelations: My Love / Hate Relationship with Desolace

It’s no wonder that, up until I really needed to, I tended to stay the hell away from Desolace. The name alone makes me not want to go there.

But — either fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how I look at things — this also meant I had a plethora of Desolace-focused questing to do and bring up my quest count in Kalimdor by nearly 50 for the ongoing Loremaster attempt.

The grind started easily enough upon entry to the, umm, desolate region. A stop at Shadowprey Village to load up on quests, and I was on my way. I don’t mind rounding up old kodo or killing of Burning Legion baddies in Mannoroc Coven (that place once frightened me!). I even got through the maze of a dungeon that is Maraudon (with trusty wowhead maps at my side).

I suppose what has been making this zone stand out in my mind is the distinct lack of all those grindy, go kill x of that, go collect y of these type quests. Sure, they’re there. But seemingly in a lot less supply than many other areas.

There’s also some great lore to be had in the zone.

Chief among the lore-heavy quests that many of you brave souls who have endured Desolace in your travels will undoubtedly remember are those involving the Magram and the Gelkis Centaur clans, whose clashing cultural values have led to war. For your (hopefully) first encounter with the two, you ultimately choose a side, and kill the other — gaining friendly status with one, and hated status with the other in the process.

But if you’re going after Loremaster, that’s not where it ends. You then can accept the other side’s quests, grind your way back from hated to friendly by killing off the side you had previously befriended, and in the process complete another 6 precious quests. It can take a long. time. But Loremaster isn’t supposed to be easy!

I think I permanently have several variations of the Centaur death grunt etched into my memory.

Then, there’s the quest that starts upon a lucky drop from some Burning Blade members who’ve set up camp. That darn Flayed Demon Skin took at least 30 minutes to drop for me. But the stupid thing is muy importante to getting another 5 quests. Once again — love the lore, love upping my quest count — but not such a fan of grinding for that one lucky, rare drop.

The very first quest in the Onyxia chain attunement also starts off a drop in Desolace when you find Warlord Goretooth’s Command.  So many roots here of which I was not previous aware. My appreciation for this zone is growing.

Now, if only I would run across this stupid caravan at just the right time so I could finish up my Desolace questing…

A couple weeks in, and I now stand at 525/685 for Kalimdor. I’m starting to see a light at the end of this tunnel, though Eastern Kingdoms and Outland still remain only half-complete.

What’s the end conclusion to all of this? For the uninitiated Desolace quester, the zone does have some fun and different quests, not to mention some great storylines. If you’re also heading toward Loremaster, definitely pay the zone a visit. And expect to stay a while. Alternatively, if you’re not much into grinding just to get a rare drop that starts a quest — then you may want to pass.

Can’t wait to see how all this changes in the Cataclysm. There already are spoilers aplenty, but I’m attempting to avoid at least some of them until I get to experience them for myself.