Loremaster « Rawrcast

One of the most significant achievements I’ve earned in WOW is the title of Loremaster. No other experience highlights the sheer volume and variety of content available in the game. I found myself accepting any and every quest under the sun. A five minute escort quest across the bleak Tanaris desert to return a lost turtle to his wife? Why not? An epic quest chain that takes you from the snow drifts of Winterspring down into the lush jungles of Feralas? I was game. Although the experience was frustrating at times, the Loremaster grind was like a walk down memory lane.

The question I received most often during the grind was, “why are you punishing yourself?” After all, I received no gear upgrades, I spent months of time traveling through obscure zones searching out hidden quests, all the while missing out on a lot of instances and guild raids. The real reason I did it was to commemorate all of the time I’ve spent in Azeroth and to grab the Achievement before it disappeared in the upcoming expansion.

I decided to go for the achievement on my first character, a human Warlock that I rolled in the Fall of 2006. Heading back to Outland, I recalled how stunned I was when the Burning Crusade first came out. Hellfire Peninsula with its crumbling war torn terrain, bellowing Fel Reaver and swirling cosmic skyline were just as epic as I remembered them. The swampy psychedelic day glow infused Zangarmarsh zone with its reservoir dungeons and Naga infested waters soaked up several fulfilling hours. Netherstorm, Shadowmoon Valley, and the Blade’s Edge Mountains all flew by and soon enough I was an Outlands Loremaster.

The transition back to the “Old World” (read Eastern Kingdom and Kalimdor) was the equivalent of waking up from a pleasant dream to a smack in the face. My progress slowed to a crawl and the flaws of Blizzard’s early quest design struck home (travel half way across Feralas to complete a quest, turn the quest in and travel back to the EXACT SAME LOCATION to complete the follow up quest). There were obvious bald patches in content where Blizzard expected players to gain xp by grinding mobs on the way to complete quests instead of earning xp through completing the quests themselves.

I had anticipated this slowdown from reading the experience of other players on Wowhead (it is ESSENTIAL that you do this before starting Loremaster so that you have some idea of what you’re getting yourself into) so resolved to simply enjoy the ride. Going back to Tanaris, I recalled the first time I discovered Gadgetzan and traveled across the burning desert sands in my early 40’s. Dropping into Un’Goro Crater, I had a flashback of being caught unawares by the giant dinosaurs that roamed the zone’s brackish waters. Heading back into Uldaman, I remembered the first time I placed a tentative foot into the Trogg infested instance.

And believe it or not, I had a blast. Every day I logged on I knew I always had something to do: namely, quest. I became wrapped up in the storylines of vanilla WoW; I happily dove into forgotten zones, doing a /who to see if I was the only player there and finding a quiet satisfaction with my progress. From start to finish, I spent somewhere in the ball park of 4 months completing Loremaster. And it was worth every minute.

- Plectical