2007/01/02
Kalak's Exploration Series - Old Ironforge
Old Ironforge
Difficulty Rating: **** (out of 4)
(** out of 4 using the mage sheep trick)
2.0 Status:
My route: Unknown. Sheep trick: Unknown.
Old Ironforge ...
The name used to send shivers of excitement through me as a young explorer. I would wander up to the doors in the King's Chamber and run my fingers up and down the seal of the entrance which zealously guarded the entombed secrets. I felt a pang of jealousy at the fact it used to be so easy to get inside and that so many explorers had been able to see it before me. The easy exploit simply involved dying and then running up to the door and passing through it as your ghost. After it was nerfed, it had at various times been called closed and unreachable, only to be disproved with each patch as new methods were found. I was determined to see it. Why? It's not particularly beautiful, nor is it very big. But I wanted to be among those who had experienced it. Plus the method I had chosen to reach it presented a unique challenge that I could not pass up. How much of a challenge it would be, I would soon find out...
First, a little history. Old Ironforge appears to have been intended in the original game but removed for reasons unknown. While the section that we can see now is relatively short, it was supposed to be the starting area of greater content. Once you reached the doors that are at the bottom of the stone column that occupies the main chamber, you could either travel to the Ironforge Airport (and access the currently inactive Flight Master) or travel further into a tunnel which leads to the Wetlands Farm, which is situated on a plateau above Menthil Harbor. You can see both the airport and the farm when you are traveling by Gryphon from IF to the Harbor. Next time you are flying past above the airport on the way to Menthil Harbor, be sure to look on the left-hand side for a tunnel that leads into Ironforge Mountain. This is what was supposed to have been the exit from Old Ironforge. However, the wetlands tunnel is the more significant of the two. If it had been put into the game, it would have been possible to travel on foot from Ironforge to Menthil Harbor, via Old Ironforge and the Wetlands Tunnel. This would have been a much more sensible solution for Night Elves wishing to travel to Ironforge instead of the laborious journey through Dun Morogh they have now.
It is rumored that you used to be able to access further content beyond the doors in previous patches. In this posting on Thottbot, a person describes cracking one of the doors with a seaforium charge:
If you go to the bottom of Old IF there are two doors. One of them will crack with a seaforium. It opens into a narrow corridor that is very dark inside. If you go straight into it for a few seconds and hang a right and then a left it will open into a wider and very high cavern. In the middle of the cavern is an excavation area around a gigantic diamond looking rock with a light beam coming out the top called the Tear of Thor. It hums like some kind of generator so I guess IF is drawing power from it. It's under the mage section of IF so maybe its magical energy. On the far end of the cavern there is a ledge that goes deeper into darkness but I couldn't find a way over it. There is a mountaineer that walks a path through the cavern but he won't talk. You can also hear the sound of picks but there are no miners. Other than that it's pretty dead.
This information can't be verified, as if you search for "The Tear of Thor", you cannot find any other mention of it aside from this post. Regardless, the doors can no longer be interacted with, so they cannot be picked or blasted open.
So, on to my adventure. It started off simply enough with me searching for a route to get in during the 1.10 patch. I had heard about the sheep trick but difficulties in finding a mage in the wee hours of the morning made me decide to strike out on my own route. While browsing Thottbot, I found a posting where one person described how they had been able to access the area by flying under IF and then stepping through the tunnel walls underneath the main IF floor. It sounded completely bizarre but I had to give it a try. It also made sense at the time, since I had just finished exploring the Airport and the Wetlands farm, two areas which I first needed to visit before getting under IF. In a sense, this adventure is a quadruple exploit --- not only do you visit the Airport and Wetlands Farm, you also get to be under IF and then get into Old IF. How could I pass it up?
What happened over the next two weeks made me seriously think that I should have passed it up. The whole thing was a massive exercise in frustration. The basics of the technique goes like this ... Make your way to the tunnel which is in the Wetland farm. From the tunnel, jump into the endless void using slow fall, aiming for a specific direction towards the forge. Once you arrive there, you will be swimming under Old IF in lava but will not be taking damage. From there, you must position yourself carefully and swim until you are almost outside the tunnels which extend below IF. Once you have reached it, you can swim into the tunnels and you will be inside.
The problem is that the posting which I read gave me the basics of what I was supposed to do but lacked specific information. Not only that, some of the information was simply wrong, which took me awhile to straighten out. So while I was experimenting, I would face death after death. If you swam too far below, you would fall and die. If you swam too far to the edges or if you touched an existing wall, you would fall and die. If you swam too far up, you would appear in the real lava and you would burn and die. The falling deaths required me to resurrect at the spirit healer, so the repair bills mounted. In the midst of all this dying, I needed to figure out exactly where the tunnels were and how far up. The problem is that when you are in the lava, you don't have a lot to orient yourself. It also has the depth of about 8 Olympic pools stacked on top of each other, so there is a lot of space to cover. Another problem is that when you are outside the tunnels, you cannot see them. You can only discovery them by looking around with you camera, so it becomes tricky to line yourself up so that you can swim into them.
However, approximately two weeks after I began and much sweat expelled, I finally got my bearings and got to the correct location. I saw the tunnels with my camera and was able to move myself inside on the first try, much to my relief.
Inside I found a zig-zag of narrow tunnels which extended below the main floor of Ironforge. At the top, there was the sealed door to the King's chamber, which could not be interacted with from the inside. However, I could detect people and NPCs with my mouse if they were in a certain spot. From the entrance, the tunnel winds down two floors and then comes to an entrance into a medium sized chamber. Inside the chamber is a large stone column that rests in a pool of lava, accented by a beautiful ceiling of glinting purple crystals. There are stairs that lead left at go up to the top of the column which has a platform. There are no objects on the platform, however, but it seems to be intended as a place for players to meet with certain NPCs. There is a second path that leads to the right and spirals down the stone column to the lower level. At the lower level, just above the lava, two small bridges branch off to doors set into the wall of the chamber, one the right and one on the left but neither can be opened or interacted with. And that's it. Two weeks of searching for viewing a small amount of content.
Was it worth? Hell, yes. I don't regret my grand adventure. It's true there wasn't much to see, but like they say, getting there is half the fun.  | Other pages for this series:
|
Exploration Update:
I did not have any time to write during the Christmas break but now I am back at work, I can finish updates during my breaks. So expect a flurry of posts in the coming week.
Fortunately, I did have time for exploring in the wee hours. During my break I was able to complete a variety of things on my wish list, along with some new ones:
- Search for the Emerald Dream is called off. I have learned of the method to reach it in 2.0 from other people but it is very difficult and accomplishing it would take too much of my time. So I will wait until TBC to see it. However, contact me in-game and I will explain the details. Be warned, it is very hardcore, even for me.
- As well, I am no longer looking for the Azshara Crater, an unfinished PVP battleground. After doing research it seems it's only viewable with a map editor.
- Exploration of the mysterious green mists on the mountain behind Bough Shadow complete (Ashenvale).
- Discovery of the source of the Southfury River at the top of the falls, which winds past Orgrimmar.
- Under the Undercity (although I keep falling to my death in front of a bunch of amused Horde)
- Exploration of Western Tristifal Glades, in which a large portion is normally inaccessible.
- Exploration of inside the mountain range of Strangethorn Vale. (Method found Monday evening and will fully explore Wednesday)
- In addition, I have had some "near misses". I have almost made it to Exodar, the Draenei home city, coming within a few seconds from being within non-fatigued water. However, I believe this is the best I can do so I will leave it for the moment. I have also found a way up the entrance of the Blackwing Lair which rests in the side of Blackrock Mountain. No, I don't mean the one inside UBRS - there is a separate entrance built into the side of the mountain. Look for it next time your are in the Searing Gorge or The Burning Steeples. Disappointingly, however, I am able to get up the same level where the balcony is but there is no way to reach the balcony itself, so I will have to enjoy a partial success for now.
- And finally, the best for last ---
The Bloodelf starting zone, Quel'Thalas (Ghostlands, Eversong Forest), has been explored. Details in a special report tomorrow. 
2007/01/03
Kalak's Exploration Series - Quel'Thalas
Last changed: Jan 04, 2007 01:34 by  Kalak Labels: kalakexploreseries, quel'thalas, exploration
Quel'Thalas (Ghostlands, Eversong Woods)
Difficulty Rating: **** (out of 4)
2.0 Status:
"Open"
Special report: Elf Lands Missing in Action
"Quel'a-what?"
That was my first reaction as the words flashed on my screen. I was swimming northward along the coast from the coast of Tristifal Glades. My mission was to explore to coastline for the new northern territories of the Eastern Kingdom added in the 2.0 patch, the Ghostlands and Eversong Woods. These lands are to be the new Bloodelf zones, with Eversong being their lush and vibrant-colored home and the Ghostlands to the south being the slowly corrupted land of the scourge that is encroaching on their kingdom. Being an Alliance warrior, I hoped to slip in, dagger in teeth, and move as stealthy as I could with my bulky frame among the fantastical dwellings, observing, watching and breathing heavily. If a stray Elf happened to wander my way, well, that dagger would get its drink of Elvish blood that night. So, what did I find? Well, sit right back and hear a tale.
My swim started off well enough. After traveling for a bit along the northern coast, it became apparent that I would be seeing a lot of mountains. Steep cliffs rose from the water, pushing themselves in jagged ridges which seemed impermeable. I would stop here and there to test the mountains and look for weak spots, like I had practiced many times before. However, my experience has taught me that approaching areas from the water is usually the worst method of penetration, since the cliffs are so steep and the terrain so unforgiving. But in this case, I did not have any alternatives, as it seemed clear that they wanted to encase the whole northern lands in a protective layer of vertical rock. So, without any choice, I resorted to throwing my hulking body repetitively against the boulders. Elbows were scraped, bruises were formed and knuckles were bloodied. And then came the fall. When I was trying to scale a particularly difficult stretch, I lost my balance and plummeted to my death. When I woke, I was standing in front of the Spirit Healer in EPL. EPL! That meant I needed to travel through EPL, then WPL, and then Trisfial Glades and then swim back to my corpse. So I chose to resurrect at the spirit healer and then use a combination of mount and gryphon to make my journey back.
With that journey finished, I continued my trip northward and came across the ruins of a small tower, a dock, and an archway. I had heard these existed previously but had never had the chance to visit them. Looking them over, they did not seem to serve any purpose for the coming expansion, other than to be a point of interest. Moving on, I decided to tackle the mountains again. I selected a site which seemed to have a hope of success and went to work at banging my armour into the rock all over again. After a serious struggle and some pretty damn good luck, I made it to the top of the ridge. How did I do it? Can't say. Won't say. But I will say this - it was HARD.
At this point, I was smack between the border of an unnamed area north of Stratholme and the beginning of the Ghostlands. Pulling myself to my feet and wiping the grime from my hands, I was standing on a top of a mountain range. To my right, the mysterious unnamed area fell below and to my left, the Ghostands spread out before me. I did not know what to expect when I arrived at the top of the ridge. But I had expected something else other than the sight that met my eyes. Through the hazy mist, I could see the Ghostlands were ... blank. Well, almost blank. Nestled in the valley below, a flat grassy floor spotted with beige dominated left-most half of the area, which was sharply divided by the right-side which had a reddish brown hue. There were no trees, no streams, no hills - nothing. Across the textured plain, to the far distance, I could see the rising mountains of EPL. The wind howled and vast emptiness spread out before me. Suddenly, it seemed fittingly appropriate for the Ghostlands to be the land of wind and ghosts.
While unexpected, the look of the area was familiar to me, since I had seen this mash of textures in other areas when behind the scenes. But where was the content? Wasn't the 2.0 patch supposed to have added the expansion content to the world of Azeroth? I made my way down to the ground level and set out to explore, hoping the Eversong Woods might provide some answers to my questions.
There was actually fair bit to see in the area. The unnamed area to the right was actually an enormous crater with vertical cliffs, which I would save exploring for last. Moving left and riding along the plains of the Ghostlands, I came to a gentle slope that allowed me to ride up to the mountains which were above the EPL. Here there was a fairly wide plateau that allowed me to comfortably ride along its length, where I could stop and move into the mountain range to check out the sights over EPL. One particularly interesting discovery was that of a road. The road first begin in EPL, then wound through a small valley and then took a sudden right turn and jumped vertically up a wall and then ended on top of the plateau where I was standing. It seemed that it would be the entrance to the Ghostlands for those entering from EPL. It wouldn't be until the next day that I found the road in EPL and discovered the portal in front of it.
After finishing exploring the mountain range and after a long, but uneventful, ride along the length of the area, I decided it was time to move on to the Eversong Woods. I begin to move north but on my first attempt I encountered a steep mountain range and beyond and below a body of water. That isn't right, I thought to myself, checking my map again. The world map showed a smooth transition between the two areas - there wasn't supposed to be mountains or water in the way. But after traveling along the length of the northern part, I soon realized that there was no way around this range. If I wanted to hunt for the Eversong Woods, I would need to drop down from the Ghostlands and go for a swim.
Since I hadn't of explored the crater yet, I opted to stay and use slowfall to gain access to it. Tomorrow, I told myself, I would come back and continue northward to Eversong. The crater was interesting since it was so far below ground compared to the Ghostlands. The air was heavy and thick with reddish mist and the cliffs surrounding were topped with jagged spires. Like the Ghostlands, there was no content here, however, Stratholme was here. Moving over to the southern mountain range, I found the outline of Strat cut into the rock. The way up to the instance was steep but after a bit of trying I was able to get up and behind it. However, when exploring behind it, I made the mistake of touching one of the entrance portals and I was whisked inside Strat and locked behind the steel gates of the portals.
The next day I returned and swam further northward towards the woods. After swimming for awhile the coastline starting curving to the right. That's odd, I thought. It's supposed to continue straight up. But then I remembered the mountains and the body of water that I had encountered the night before when trying to access Eversong. Eversong must be on the other side of the river that cuts across the land. So I journeyed through the center of map, following the coastline and looking for signs of the northern territory. But none appeared. All along the way, looking north, I could see nothing but endless water. By now I felt something was seriously wrong. I decided to venture out into the fatigued water half-way before returning, but I still could not see the edges of the territory. After making it all the way around I came to the inescapable conclusion - like it's southern neighbour, the Eversong Woods are missing in action in 2.0.
Folks, Blizzard is lying to you. The new land that you see on your maps in 2.0 does not exist in the game in any shape or form. The new Elvish lands are still locked deep within your game files, only be to sprung out and unfolded like a pop-up book upon the installation of TBC.
But, of course, after I had thought about it, they aren't really supposed to be available in the first place. The Bloodelf area, along with the Draenei starting area are supposed to be instanced, so people without the expansion, which is 100% of us at the moment, should not be able to see the content. This would also explain why I have come so close to the islands of Exodar and yet still did not see its coastline. It's highly likely that these islands are also MIA as well.
So, the question remains in the end, will there be content in Quel'Thalas to explore in TBC for those with the expansion but who do not use the portals to enter the areas? I know I'll be back to check. See you then. | Other pages for this series:
|
2007/01/05
Login problems on January 5th
I made the foolish mistake of being in WoW and then quitting WoW instead of choosing "logout" to switch to another character. Since then, around 14:30ish game time, I haven't been able to log back in to WoW. The connection to authenticate me just always times out. I tried removing the Cache and WTF folders, I restarted, I used the launcher (which I never use and which, incidentally, had trouble connecting to pull up News), and it's all no go.
I saw a few threads on the forums (the web site has been hideously slow) of other people having similar problems but it doesn't appear to be a mass problem. Alas, I can't even add a "me too" as I can't seem to login for the forums, although I was able to pull up my account management page.
I believe Schnurbart is also in the same boat.
Kalak's Exploration Series - Elwynn Waterfalls
Last changed: Jan 05, 2007 13:05 by Kalak Labels: waterfall, black, kalakexploreseries, falls, rogue, drake, explorer, elwynn, league, dwarven
Elwynn Waterfalls
Difficulty rating: ** (out of 4)
2.0 Status:
Open (but not confirmed)
"Hardcore ..."
"Extreme ..."
"Very difficult ..."
So when am I going to get around to the easy stuff that doesn't require laborious hours of banging on the keyboard? Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present to you: Elwynn Waterfalls.
Unless you routinely leave your keyboard during your gryphon flights, you will surely have noticed the Elwynn Waterfalls when traveling between Stormwind and Ironforge. The falls start just after the Northshire Abbey and end just before the Burning Steeples. Since I am sure you know them, I won't waste time describing them here. But I am sure you will agree they are breathtakingly beautiful. However, when in flight our glimpse of them is fleeting - there is only a few seconds to look them over before we are carried away on the rest of our journey. It is an entirely different experience to stand at the base of the falls and soak in the magnificence of its massive cascade of water. For that reason, if none other, you should make a trip to see the falls. Another incentive is that the route you will take to get there will first pass on a ridge above the falls. It is here you will find a friendly band of lightly armed dwarves belonging to the Dwarven Explorer League. Also keeping them company on the ridge is a fierce Rogue Black Drake, which ambushes the party and slaughters several of them before the rest of the group take him down. Whether you choose to assist them (the Drake is attackable but carries no loot or silver) or decide to sit back and watch the carnage, the scene is memorable and wildly fun.
The Elwynn Falls make up type of explorable content called flight path scenery. Other examples of this are the Goblin Lumber Camp in the Stonetalon Mountains and the Dancing Troll Village in Darkshore. As I have previously stated, there are many behind the scenes areas in the game where vast swaths of the land is unfinished, simply because the designers had no need to complete it if no one would be seeing it. But in some cases, flight paths need to travel through these areas, so flight path scenery is used to help develop those areas and add content to zones which are otherwise devoid of it.
I have been fascinated by the Elwynn Falls from the moment I took my first flight from Stormwind to Ironforge. However, it wasn't until I begin exploring that I considered the possibility of being able to travel there. My first journey there, which was tutored to me by a video, involved a long trip through the mountains from Dun Morogh to Elwynn Forest via the Searing Gorge. Along the way, I faced dangerous heights, invisible walls, and at least two drops that required the use of slow fall. The journey was also time consuming, taking around 45 minutes to finally reach the falls.
For a time I thought this was the only way to reach the falls. Then one day I happened to see a proof-of-concept video that showed someone where the dwarven league and the Rogue Black Drake was. Since my current method did not take me up that way but instead involved a slow fall from a plateau behind Stormwind to the western stream arm, I knew there had to be another way there. So I went to work probing the hills in both the Searing Gorge and the Burning Steeples and found the method after a bit of searching.
So, where do you gain access? Let me give you some hints. It's in south-east Burning Steeples and it involves a single (yes, SINGLE) jump and once done you will be on the hills which will take you up to the ridge where the dwarves are and from there it's simple to drop down to see the falls. Getting onto the hills does not involve slow fall, so you do not need to be very high for this jump. However, you will need to climb a little ways up but you will still be in the Steeples before the jump, as mobs will be nearby.
A word of warning ... Since both the falls and the dwarven ridge are directly under a flight path, I don't recommend lingering in full view for too long. Blizzard generally leaves explorers alone but if they receive complaints from other players then there's the possibly they could act on them. So I would recommend for you to do this in the late hours of the evening or early hours of the morning.
Once you have gained access to the falls, in addition to admiring them, you can sleep in the tent that is provided, explore up and down the streams and optionally jump over the smaller fall into the Northshire Abby. There is a curious easter egg here, where if you are in front of the tent that is at the bottom of the falls, you will see a fishing pool in the water simply called "School of Fish". If you cast your fishing rod into this pool, after a few seconds the line will jerk and you will pull up a batch of peacebloom. Amusingly, your second and third and all other attempts will also bring up peacebloom. It is reported to be bottomless and will never run out. However, in keeping with the ethics of exploring, be sure to discard the herbs after you are done so you are not profiting from the trip.
When you are done fishing, be sure to swim along the western arm of the stream, as the water comically stops abruptly at the end of the arm. There is a small bowl below where the water ends and a large curved ridge above it, beyond which lies the area north of Stormwind and allows access to underneath the city. This is where I used to slow fall to drop down to the falls on my original route. However, the ridge is too steep to be scaled and if you enter the bowl, you will be trapped and you will not be able to climb back to the falls, so do not enter unless you are completely finished with exploring the falls.
In closing, I think the Elwynn Falls are very worthy of exploration and hope you'll consider a visit to your own little paradise. | Other pages for this series:
|
Exploration Update:
Breaking news:
During my partial exploration of the interior of the Stranglethorn Mountains along the eastern coast, I have unexpectantly found some unreleased content which is behind the scenes and is normally inaccessible. I am still exploring this area, so I will withhold the details for now. However, I have never seen this content in any exploration video, so am thinking that I might make a frapps of it myself. More details to come.
Upcoming exploits:
On top of and underneath the Stranglethorn Vale Arena.
| |
