WoW: druid swift flight form quests

[Shadari]

So I'm pretty much over Warhammer Online (at least for now) and decided last night to roll a druid in WoW. I forgot how much fun this game can be when you're into it. Anyway, I expect my playtime to be fairly limited, but I do plan to get to level 80 eventually and I was wondering how hard it is to get the swift flight form. I've heard that the last part of the quest chain cannot be done solo. How hard is this part? Any chance I might be able to solo it at level 80?

BTW, druids rock. :)

[Hanacker]

When do you get to use flight form in the expansion? The warlock and paladin epic mounts at 60 need instanced quests and can't be soloed even at 70 without uber gear, so I'd assume the druid quests would be the same (find a group or no epic flyer for you).

[Shadari]

When do you get to use flight form in the expansion?
Regular flight form can be obtained at level 68, swift flight form at level 70.

[Horrible Oscar]

The final step of the flight form questline involves doing the heroic (i.e. harder level 70 version) Sethekk Halls 5man and summoning an optional boss.

It kinda depends on how fast you level, I guess. If the next expansion is out by the time you reach 70 or can afford the swift flight training, I can easily imagine Blizzard changing the quest somehow since nobody will be doing Outland heroics after the level cap is raised. If not, Sethekk heroic isn't that hard if you get a few level 70 blues and wait for it's heroic daily (http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=11372) to pop up.

Edit: Oh, uh, right, you asked about level 80. I'd say you'd need a friend or two for Anzu at 80, but as noted, I really doubt Blizzard will leave it like that. They've changed similar stuff like the Master Sword/Axe/Macesmithing quests requiring Stratholme runs and whatnot; you learn those simply by talking to an NPC now.

[Hanacker]

I thought there was a global debuff in the expansion that prohibited flying for a while. In which case you wouldn't need your swift flyer until you reached that point.

[Athryn]

I thought there was a global debuff in the expansion that prohibited flying for a while. In which case you wouldn't need your swift flyer until you reached that point.

That's correct. Level 77 is when you can train Cold Weather Flying (http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?npc=31238). Cost to train is 1k.

[Lorini]

Blue mentioned that Druids would have to have Cold Weather Flying in order to get their flight forms. Sorry can't find the link but I remember the discussion.

[Gordon Cameron]

Once you get Cold Weather flying, is all of Northrend open to flying mounts?

[Jag]

Except Dalaran and Wintergrasp which are no fly zones.

My druid hit 70 last week and I did the flight form quests in a few hours and got a group for the bird boss. Wasn't hard to get. I wouldn't worry about it.

You still need to pay the 5000g to start the quest though. Doesn't look like that is being lowered in Wrath either.

[stusser]

I wouldn't worry about it.
Right, nothing to worry about, because it'll be easy to find a couple people honored with that faction with a key to the heroic level 70 dungeon at level 80 willing to blow an hour just to help you out for no benefit to themselves. You're a hot chick with naked pics, right? No? Ooooooh that might be a problem.

[Shadari]

Well I am a hot night elf chick, so maybe....

[Anaxagoras]

Right, nothing to worry about, because it'll be easy to find a couple people honored with that faction with a key to the heroic level 70 dungeon at level 80 willing to blow an hour just to help you out for no benefit to themselves.
Correct. It probably won't be a problem.

[Athryn]

Right, nothing to worry about, because it'll be easy to find a couple people honored with that faction with a key to the heroic level 70 dungeon at level 80 willing to blow an hour just to help you out for no benefit to themselves. You're a hot chick with naked pics, right? No? Ooooooh that might be a problem.

I wouldn't say that's the case. I had little problem getting people to help me get the epic Paladin mount even though my Pally didn't get leveled until well after BC was out. As long as you have friends and/or a guild, it isn't a problem.

Except Dalaran and Wintergrasp which are no fly zones.

You can fly into and out of Dalaran on a flying mount, but you can't fly around in Dalaran, if that makes sense. There are 2 entrances to Dalaran where you can take off and land, but at a certain height over the rest of Dalaran, you get dismounted.

[intruder]

So I'm pretty much over Warhammer Online (at least for now) and decided last night to roll a druid in WoW. I forgot how much fun this game can be when you're into it. Anyway, I expect my playtime to be fairly limited, but I do plan to get to level 80 eventually and I was wondering how hard it is to get the swift flight form. I've heard that the last part of the quest chain cannot be done solo. How hard is this part? Any chance I might be able to solo it at level 80?

BTW, druids rock. :)

I did help twice with the final part (Heroic birdplace) on my rogue / lock.
In general you need a decent tank + a decent healer since some of the mobs in Heroic hit like a truck + are immune to cc (there is a duo that really hits hard and can't be cc'ed).
First you have the clear the room the boss will spawn since he has some kind of push ability and you don't want to be flying into some mobs that will add by accident.
The boss itself is standard tank and spank + the pushback sometimes however at certain percentages he will get immune and summon some bird adds (non elite). The best tactic is to bunch at the tank and aoe the hell out of them.
It's an easy fight if you have purple geared people with you however even with blue geared it should be doable given that the tank is good + the healer has a good mana pool.
Standard group would be tank, healer, aoe, 2x dps.
It's even easier with 2-3 druids because there are statues in the room that can be buffed with some HOTs and will weaken the boss / buff the group.
It's a bit like the pally mount in Scholo where the easiest group was with mostly pallys that could put some seals etc. on the mobs.
Probably best group would be 5 druids but the question is if you find enough.

Have fun :)

I don't think you will be able to solo those groups at 80 but I might be wrong. If you can aoe enough at 80 then yes probably you could solo the boss.

Yes druids rock (I played one to 60 and she sits in Thrallmar now. :p)

[intruder]

Right, nothing to worry about, because it'll be easy to find a couple people honored with that faction with a key to the heroic level 70 dungeon at level 80 willing to blow an hour just to help you out for no benefit to themselves. You're a hot chick with naked pics, right? No? Ooooooh that might be a problem.

Once people will be 80 and bored about the new content they will help with whatever to do something. I went to Scholo / DM West a lot out of boredom and helped alts to get their mounts (pally and lock).
It's relaxing to do those old instances where you can fool around and not die.

[rossm]

I had a lot of trouble getting a group for heroic sethekk (I just hit 70 about 2? months ago). Even on days where sethekk was the daily, people on my server just didn't want to do it. And apparently as a healer with only 1600 +healing I wasn't good enough to do heroics in the eyes of tier 12 players or whatever.

When I finally did get a group, it was really easy, even as the only healer. It took probably 5-6 weeks though, trying to get a group every day. YMMV

At 80, who knows. I would be surprised if they didn't change the requirements though, such as just giving it to you for 5000g with no quest line.

[intruder]

I had a lot of trouble getting a group for heroic sethekk (I just hit 70 about 2? months ago). Even on days where sethekk was the daily, people on my server just didn't want to do it. And apparently as a healer with only 1600 +healing I wasn't good enough to do heroics in the eyes of tier 12 players or whatever.

When I finally did get a group, it was really easy, even as the only healer. It took probably 5-6 weeks though, trying to get a group every day. YMMV

At 80, who knows. I would be surprised if they didn't change the requirements though, such as just giving it to you for 5000g with no quest line.

Sethekk sucks as daily since it's really long and there are only 2 bosses in there so 4 badges incl. the 2 for daily. The drops suck also + the end boss is a pain in the ass if he blinks badly.
I'd rather do Botanica + Mechanar any day over it since they are much easier and give equal / more badges.

My question: Did you state that you look for people to help with your druid quest or just spammed "LFG Sethekk Heroic"?

[RobotPants]

Sethekk Halls is one of the more annoying instances in the game for a lot of reasons.

[Lorini]

With the ease of making money on dailies, I just bought an epic mount for my lock instead of trying to organize treks into Scholo. Blizzard needs to update the requirements on the class specific mounts to be more in tune with what people are doing.

[rasputin]

I also just purchased the epic flyer for my druid and haven't looked back. I occasionally slam home a quest or two in the flight form chain, but it really doesn't matter, especially now that mounts won't be item slots in a month or so.

[stusser]

Oh no, swift flight form is awesome. It's instantcast and you can herb in it. In the expansion you can even pick up quest items (with the gear) in it. It's worth the trouble.

[rei]

heroic SH has narrow hallways and short distance to unCC-able mobs that disarm/knockback and 1-2 shot newbs.

[Dave Weinstein]

By the time my Druid needs epic flight form, I'll be able to go with 4 level 80s, and not worry about it.

[stusser]

If you can find 3 people who happen to be honored with that obsolete faction and are willing to donate an hour of their time to help you, sure. If you're a friendly dude the latter isn't an insurmountable obstacle but the former will be increasingly difficult as time passes. How many players are honored with the argent dawn or cenarion circle these days?

[Becoming]

I'd also mention that most people really love the chance (infinitely small though it is) to get a raven mount, so therefore are more than happy to help a druid finish off that boss.

Also to reiterate Stusser's point, swift flight form is pure awesome. I trained up my druids herbalism from scratch just because of that, and it's a match made in heaven. There's also nothing quite like seeing an enemy mage jump off the cliff at halaa trying to slowfall escape, and just diving off after them and popping flight form before landing and tearing their face off (once they're about halfway down you'll be out of combat). No escapey for you!

[Hanacker]

How many players are honored with the argent dawn or cenarion circle these days?

Is it friendly or honored where you can do all the turn in quests (fronds, etc.) with argent dawn? I always get that far and by then I'm usually 58.

[Gordon Cameron]

If you can find 3 people who happen to be honored with that obsolete faction and are willing to donate an hour of their time to help you, sure. If you're a friendly dude the latter isn't an insurmountable obstacle but the former will be increasingly difficult as time passes. How many players are honored with the argent dawn or cenarion circle these days?

I guess it depends whether the people you know play old toons or new ones. I'd imagine a fair portion of the 70s running around today were 60 pre-BC and racked up some timbermaw/argent dawn type faction even if they never use it anymore. Speaking personally, two of my four 70s were "old 60s" in this regard.

[Anaxagoras]

If you can find 3 people who happen to be honored with that obsolete faction and are willing to donate an hour of their time to help you, sure. If you're a friendly dude the latter isn't an insurmountable obstacle but the former will be increasingly difficult as time passes. How many players are honored with the argent dawn or cenarion circle these days?

2 out of 3 of my toons are honored with both the argent dawn AND cenarion circle... and I started playing post BC. You tend to get to honored with factions without even trying.

Methinks you grossly overestimate how difficult this process will be.

[Athryn]

heroic SH has narrow hallways and short distance to unCC-able mobs that disarm/knockback and 1-2 shot newbs.

That's why you bring a priest along for cc. :) The most unpleasant mobs in there are undead, and I've rarely had a problem with them when I take my priest. The things that 2-shot people are the ghosts like in Sunken Temple.

[Matthew Bramblet]

Having to do Sethekk at the end of that quest line is a bit of a pain, but if they have to change that, I hope they don't upend the rest of the questline. It has some fun and interesting types of solo experiences as you run around doing all the quests, playing off of the hybrid nature of druids.

It's a real pain to switch to a non-druid character after you're used to instant-cast flight form; it really does feel different and more fluid.

[Phred]

I also just purchased the epic flyer for my druid and haven't looked back. I occasionally slam home a quest or two in the flight form chain, but it really doesn't matter, especially now that mounts won't be item slots in a month or so. Really there is no point to waiting to get the epic flight form IMO. If you have the 5k to start the quest the 220g or so for a mount is pocket change. My druid has an epic mount and has been flying around with the quest in his journal for months now. One of these days I'll hassle up a group for it but until then I'm already flying so it's not at the top of my priority list.

[Gordon Cameron]

Having to do Sethekk at the end of that quest line is a bit of a pain, but if they have to change that, I hope they don't upend the rest of the questline. It has some fun and interesting types of solo experiences as you run around doing all the quests, playing off of the hybrid nature of druids.

It's a real pain to switch to a non-druid character after you're used to instant-cast flight form; it really does feel different and more fluid.

I thought the chain had some of the more interesting examples of challenging solo battles. Although I did respec a couple times to give myself the best shot at each encounter.

[rasputin]

Really there is no point to waiting to get the epic flight form IMO. If you have the 5k to start the quest the 220g or so for a mount is pocket change. My druid has an epic mount and has been flying around with the quest in his journal for months now. One of these days I'll hassle up a group for it but until then I'm already flying so it's not at the top of my priority list.

Exactly. That's like 1 daily run of gold and boom, you're zipping around instead of being all slow when flying.

I loved being able to do things and the instant cast in flight form, but when it came down to waiting for swift flight or just buying the mount, I have never regretted just getting the mount.

[intruder]

That's why you bring a priest along for cc. :) The most unpleasant mobs in there are undead, and I've rarely had a problem with them when I take my priest. The things that 2-shot people are the ghosts like in Sunken Temple.

Meet the Ravenguard (http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=18322#comments) (Heroic version)


In heroic mode, these NPC's hit like a truck. Either bring two healers or kite one.


I can only agree with that, 12k crits on clothies, and they also tend to succed 1hitting the rogues.

[AaronSofaer]

Why would your clothies/rogues be taking hits from them? Why does it matter if a Priest takes a 12k, when you have a tank for a reason?

[Athryn]

Meet the Ravenguard (http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=18322#comments) (Heroic version)

I have rarely ever had a tank that had a problem with these. There are other heroics that have mobs like those as well, such as H Slave Pens. They're seriously not that big of a deal.

[Hanacker]

I'd be very surprised if they kept the quest chain requiring a Heroic Instance run. Nobody's ever going to do heroics again after the expansion.

[Shadari]

Did they ever change the warlock or paladin epic mount quests?

[Athryn]

Did they ever change the warlock or paladin epic mount quests?

Nope.

[Shadari]

Then I'm not gonna hold my breath waiting for them to change the druid swift flight form quest. :(

[Hanacker]

They did drastically lower the mat requirements for the warlock mount (and probably pally too iirc) a couple weeks after I did the quest. They did leave in the part about running two instances that pretty much nobody runs anymore, but at least there were no rep requirements.

[rossm]

My question: Did you state that you look for people to help with your druid quest or just spammed "LFG Sethekk Heroic"?
I did everything except trying to start a group myself. I wasn't in a hurry, I was just trying to say that it isn't always super easy to get a group for h sethekk even before wlk.

As for the quest line, I enjoyed it a lot too. The boss fights were fun, and fortunately as feral I didn't need to respec for any of them.

Concerning those ravenguard mobs, they're not bad at all unless your tank is undergeared. I prefer gear check pulls to some of the other pulls in there, where there's too many mobs to handle, one of them fears, etc.

[Jag]

You can also post something on your Realm's forum. I'm sure you are not the only Druid waiting to do it. I had another Druid wait for me to hit 70 since he needed it too. We got a friend to commit to healing (T6) and I tanked the heroic as a newly minted 70. So we really only needed 3 dps, easy enough to get.

Flight form is fun as hell though. Since I got it, i'm trying to see all the things i can do with it.

1. Do rolls and fly upside down (INSERT + UP ARROW)
2. Rawrbombing- Hit Bear while in the air and charge upon landing
3. Mid air buffing
4. Train mobs onto opposing faction.

[Shadari]

I need to find me a guild after having been out of the WoW scene for close to a year now. Speaking of which, are there any Qt3 guilds on a PVP server?

[AaronSofaer]

I don't know of any official Qt3 guild on a PvP server, but I highly HIGHLY recommend Kel'Thuzad.

If you're Alliance, put Kaput/Shammur on your flist. If Horde, prepare to be KoS! :evil:

[Shadari]

Apparently they're going to make swift flight form and all the other class-specific mounts available at trainers. This is great news for me. Well, it would be except I'm back to playing my retribution paladin and have forgotten all about my poor, little druid. BTW, ret pallies are a fucking holy terror now! Fuck yeah, I say!

[Creole Ned]

It's good, but since you can't get swift flight form until 71, that means no druid will pick it up (short of doing the current epic quest) until WotLK comes out -- and then you won't be able to use it in Northrend until level 77, I believe.

[bkrani]

Then I'm not gonna hold my breath waiting for them to change the druid swift flight form quest. :(

You wouldn't have to wait too long it seems.

It's been announced that in the 3.0.3 patch, mounts that required a quest to receive (pali/lock epic ground mount & druid epic flight form) will be available from a trainer. no quest required.

http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/10/21/quested-mounts-and-forms-to-be-trainable-in-patch-3-0-3/

EDIT: Doh! I didn't read the preceding posts closely enough. Beaten to the announcement by 2 posts.

[Gordon Cameron]

I'm actually a bit saddened this is true for druids. I kinda get it with old level 60 quest mounts, but this feels premature for the druid swift flight form.

I guess I can hurry up and still get my flight form "the hard way"...

[Gordon Cameron]

It's good, but since you can't get swift flight form until 71,

I wonder can you still do the quest until then (after the patch comes out), or is the quest chain deleted?

[RobotPants]

I can't imagine they'd delete it before people can actually hit 71.

[Athryn]

I don't see any reason they'd remove the quest. The only quest they've removed that I know of is the Alliance version of the Onyxia chain, mainly because the king has returned and Fordragon has relocated to Northrend.

[Griddle]

Garoun just informed me that the previously awesome trinket that you get during this quest line is now nerfed into obscurity. It used to provide a speed boost to flying, now it just reduces the mana cost to the swift flight spell. Most unfortunate.

[Athryn]

Garoun just informed me that the previously awesome trinket that you get during this quest line is now nerfed into obscurity. It used to provide a speed boost to flying, now it just reduces the mana cost to the swift flight spell. Most unfortunate.

This is mainly because they're doing away with riding crops and stuff.

[Shadari]

This is mainly because they're doing away with riding crops and stuff.
Any idea why they're doing that?

[Griddle]

Any idea why they're doing that?
I read something a bit ago that mentioned the riding crops and carrot on a stick dealies would be mount enchant-type things. I'm sure someone can either qualify or debunk this.

[AaronSofaer]

Any idea why they're doing that?


Because Blizzard doesn't want every single 68+ non-Paladin character to have to devote a space to a riding crop. Same reason they have the new Currency page.

[Gedd]

It's not really bag space, it's because having riding buff trinkets means that if you enter combat while mounted and with the trinket equipped, you can't switch out to your normal trinket until you get back out of combat. Not such a big deal while questing and such, but it's a big problem in PvP.

They also tend to make gameplay decisions based on the default UI, and that would mean you need to manually switch your trinket in and out every time you mounted or dismounted. It's just unnecessarily cumbersome.

[LadyGuardian]

I've been so out of the loop with WoW news that all of this actually makes me want to resub. Yay Druids!

[Jag]

As Gedd said they stated that they didn't like the fact that it took up a trinket spot. So they tried to fix it. In early Beta they had it apply to each mount (yay LWing). So when you clicked the crop, whip etc, it could be applied like a patch. It was buggy and annoying to do for every mount.

The last thing they said was that they have 'something' planned, but nothing has been released about riding speed enchants post 70. As of now, we have nothing to use after lvl 70 except personal talents for some classes.

[Athryn]

My guess is they're going to put in a glyph. That's how I'd do it, anyway.

Maybe.

[Gedd]

My guess is they're going to put in a glyph. That's how I'd do it, anyway.

My guess is that they're going to make all the mount speeds the same as base + mount speed buff from trinkets/talents and pull out anything that affects mount speed, hence the nerf to the Druid trinket.