Starting as a Dwarf or Gnome in...

Dun Morogh


Introduction

The snowy climes of Dun Morogh provide a perfect mountain home for the dwarves of Azeroth, not to mention an isolated place for their gnomish cousins to ply their gadgeteering trade. After the fall of Gnomeregan to an invasion of kneehigh furry hostiles known as troggs and a subsequent experiment in military tech gone very bad, both gnomes and dwarves call the city of Ironforge (in north central Dun Morogh) their capital. The trogg overflow extends well into western Dun Morogh, but though Gnomeregan is suited to adventurers in their high 20s-lower 30s, all mobs in Dun Morogh proper are a match for adventurers levels 1-10 (though we'll point out a handful that are "elite" - that is, suited to a small group of adventurers close to that particular mob's level).

The least you need to know

Generally speaking, you'll fly through the lower levels faster (and, in my opinion, more enjoyably) if you work your way through quests rather than attempt to grind for experience (that is, to simply kill every creature you come across that offers experience benefits like some level-happy psycho). If this is your first time out, quests are given by non-player characters (NPCs) with a yellow exclamation above their head, and generally require you to kill certain things and/or deliver items (or pickup items), and reward you with bonus experience and sometimes items or coin.

Gates

Kharanos

The natural progression is to complete the quests in the starting area in and around Anvilmar, proceed northeast to Kharanos and knock out the quests there, some of which will take you westward to Brewnall Village. After you finish just about all the quests in Brewnall, explore the principal dwarven-gnomish city of Ironforge (north center of the map), then wrap-up the quests in eastern Dun Morogh and Gol'Bolar Quarry.

Other quick notes: if you plan to pick up the primary professions of skinning, mining, or herbalism (you can only choose one!) the sooner you can shell out the 10 silver to the trainers in the central "Great Forge" area of Ironforge (a mining trainer is available in the Steelgrill Depot (eastern building) basement area - thanks to Kinkoss for this hint!), the better. Dun Morogh is rich in resources of every type, and the sooner you get started, the less backtracking through easier areas to progress your skill you'll have to do (this is especially true of the skinning profession). Thanks to Bloch of Sen'Jin server for this hint: If you don't have a crafting profession in mind, choose two gathering primary professions. Stacks of gathered components sell for much more than you could make with low-level crafted items, so this is essentially free money. Don't worry, you can always ditch one gathering profession to choose a crafting profession later on.

Map

Dun Morogh Map

Walkthrough

Gates

Grizzled Cave

Starting out in Coldridge Valley

You'll start your career facing a dwarf named Sten Stoutarm, and he's offered you a pair of gloves in return for some wolf meat (Dwarven Outfitters). This one's fast and easy, as well as being a great way to become acquainted with your character's combat skills, so turn around and take out some wolves, any wolves will do. When you've met Sten's quota, head back to him to complete the quest, and accept two more: Coldridge Valley Mail Delivery and Glyphic Memorandum.

Take care of "Glyphic Memorandum" first, it's just a way to introduce you to your class trainer inside Anvilmar (it's a good idea to forego the fancy equipment you can buy here, and buy just about every spell you can, by the way). Look for the yellow blip on your minimap. Next, follow the road west-southwest until you come to Talin Keeneye's encampment. Turns out the mail delivery isnt' for him, but he points you in the right direction, and gives you a quest called The Boar Hunter to kill a dozen or so boars. This is easy enough, there's bunches in the area, so complete this one, do the turn in, and head back to Anvilmar to sell off your inventory. While you're in the Anvilmar area, grab A New Threat from Balir Frosthammer - it's easy to kill off a few requisite troggs when you're in transit.

You should now be of appropriate level to get A Refuge's Quandry from Felix Whindlebolt in Anvilmar. This is a good quest to do while you chip away at Frostmane Troll Whelps in The Troll Cave, a quest you'll get from Grelin when you deliver his mail. Head west across the frozen lake, and you'll encounter one of three troll camps (one of Felix's 3 lost items can be found at each troll camp). Note that these trolls will attack you if you get close enough, they're "aggro" in MMO parlance. So make sure you engage each mob singularly, and pull each mob to a safe location to fight (to avoid roaming aggro mobs). Fight your way in, then double click on Felix's items to recover them. Work your way southeast from camp to camp until you recover all 3 items, and by the time you're finished, you should have "The Troll Cave" completed as well. Speak again to Grelin, and he'll offer you Stolen Journal. We'll get to that in a moment, but first: head back to Anvilmar to sell and train (perhaps you can finish off "A New Threat" on the way, too!).

If you're level 5, you should be able to solo any mob in the troll cave (as long as you fight them singly) and recover Grelin's journal from Grik'nir the Cold. You'll find him in the eastern, more open part of the cave. Go slow and kill each mob as you come to it; you'll be fine. When the journal's yours, head back to Grelin. He has one last Coldridge Valley quest for you called Senir's Observations . Tie up your loose ends in Coldridge, because you won't be back. On your way out, grab the Supplies to Tannock quest from Hands Springsprocket, and fight your way through Coldridge Pass. These troggs shouldn't present a challenge after what you've done, just fight them one at a time (as always!).

Gates

Shimmer Ridge

Kharanos, Steelgrill Depot, and Brewnall Village / Gnomeregan area

It's time to fill up that quest journal a little. Head northeast to Kharanos (it's a bit of a journey, compared to travelling around cozy little Coldridge). Here, track down the following quests in Kharanos: Beer Basted Boar Ribs , and Tools for Steelgrill. Head east about 50 gnome paces to Steelgrill's Depot, where you'll drop off the Tools for Steelgrill, and can pick up Ammo for Rumbleshot, The Grizzled Den, and Stocking Jetsteam. Kill any boars and bears you come across as you travel for "Jetsteam" and "Boar Ribs"; note that the other component for "Boar Ribs" can be bought in the brewry where you receive the quest. The remaining two quests take you southeast once again towards the Grizzled Cave (see map).

The wendigos that inhabit the cave make for profitable hunting, but if you're interested in the skinning / leatherworking or mining professions, you might want to take a quick trip to Ironforge's central "Great Forge" area to pick up these professions before you head in. Generally speaking, the sooner you shell out the pittance to get started in a profession, the better- backtracking through newbie areas to build skill isn't much fun. Anyway, you can wrap up all your quests by hunting in the Grizzled Cave area with a little patience - just watch for aggrolicious snow leopards! When you're finished, there's one quick quest to wrapup. On the map, you'll see two caves to the northeast; head toward the western one. Tundra MacGrann's Stolen Stash of dried meats was stolen by a huge wendigo called Icebeard, who happens to live in the eastern cave. You can either fight Icebeard (not recommended if you're solo), or just wait till he roams around and run in to retrieve the goods and return them to MacGrann.

Note that the ammo crate for the "Ammo for Rumbleshot" quest is found near the Grizzled Cave (44,56 for those of you with CTMod or other similar addons) - hand off the ammo to Rumbleshot along the road to the south of Kharanos (he stands near the mortar team guys). Head back up to Kharanos to wrap up these quests and get your next assignments.

Ask around town and you'll get Evershine, Operation Recombobulation (this is found in the gnomish house on the north end of town), and Frostmane Hold. All three drive you towards Brewnall Village in western Dun Morogh, where you'll pick up the part 2 of Evershine: A Favor for Evershine, Bitter Rivals, and The Perfect Stout. Note that these quests are fairly challenging, you might want to find a partner to work through them. Nevertheless, "Evershine" and "Recombobulation" find ample targets to the west-northwest of Brewnall Village, and shimmerweed for "Perfect Stout" is found atop Shimmer Ridge to the east. When you're finished, you should be well into level 8 or maybe even 9, and it's time to had back towards Kharanos to do the turn-ins and the "Bitter Rivals" quest. One last trip to Brewnall to finish up the Bitter Rivals quest.

Upon completing "Frostmane Hold", Senir Whitebeard gives you The Reports, which takes you, at long last, into Ironforge proper. A few notes on Ironforge - it's fun to explore, and the Auction House has a lot of good equipment, but the standard advice is this: don't spend too much money in the AH until at least level 20 or so. Reason being, you'll outgrow pre-20 stuff very quickly, and you just don't need it. Once you've had your fill of the capital city, it's time to start working your way towards Loch Modan and the rest of the game.

If you've come this far, you might as well check out the few remaining quests in Dun Morogh. Protecting the Herd is found at Amberstill Ranch, and the denizens there want you to kill a monster to the north by the name of Vagash. Two quests are found at Gol'Bolar Quarry (a good place for beginning miners, by the way): The Public Servant and Those Blasted Troggs, both are relatively short kill tasks inside the quarry. Finally, Captain Hammerfoot at North Gate Outpost lost track of his comrade Mori in The Lost Pilot. Your tasked to find out what's become of him, which subsequently leads to a quest to kill Mangeclaw, an ice claw bear that roams slightly to the south.

Other Guides to Check Out

  • Ironforge City Guide - Get to know the shorty city better!
  • Bag Guide - Inventory space is a problem at lower levels. This guide offers some solutions.
  • Travel Guide - When your ready to leave Dun Morogh, our travel guide helps you get where you're going.

What's next?

Loch Modan is situated to the east of Dun Morogh, so in a sense, all roads lead to the region you'll hunt in next. Troggs and orcs run rampant in Loch Modan, making the region suited to your adventures through around level 20. Alternatively, you could travel overseas to Darkshore or southwards to Westfall (see our handy travel guide).


Thanks for reading! Feel free to email me with comments, suggestions, or whatnot.

 

 

 

 


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Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

About The Author

Jeff joined the Ten Ton Hammer team in 2004 covering EverQuest II, and he's had his hands on just about every PC online and multiplayer game he could since.

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