by Byron Mudry on Aug 27, 2008
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The Fizzcrank Airstrip
One of the coolest places in the zone is Fizzcrank Airstrip, if for no other reason than you get to fly out of it on a cool looking World War 1 Bi-plane. The story line around the airstrip unfolds as the Gnomes that run it tell of a terrible evil that is trying to cure them of the disease of the flesh. The evil is very literally a robotic Gnome that is attempting to cure all the gomes of flesh by changing them into robots. The logic is apparently that all creations of the Titans start as stone and then weaken to flesh, which he is trying to reverse.
The quests lead you though fighting off the various robot guards in the geyser fields beside the airstrip, curing the cured gnomes, and destroying the robotic leaders. Along the way you get to fight various mini bosses and gain a lot of experience on the fairly long quest chains. You also get to find out what on Azeroth could be uglier than a gnome, a robotic gnome.
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Kaskala
At the airstrip one of the other quests you get is to help a crashed pilot in the fields. He can be found in the southern fields and once you locate him, he has a number of quests that need to be done involving gather items, rescuing pilots and destroying crashed planes. All the quests are very close together and it makes for an interesting sub-story that you can move through very quickly. Especially disgusting is the quest to feed wolves so that they empty their bowels of the microfilm that they ate, which you then have to find in piles of their droppings.
After you have finished off all of the quests close to the airstrip it is time to travel north east to find Bixie who is near the crashed monolith Talramas. Again this small quest hub leads to numerous quests dealing with the crashed monolith and the area around it. You must deal with plague victims, the scourge and more.
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Death's Stand
After finishing in the north, fly all the way back to the south, to Valiance Keep. This is a fun flight since you can make it in the Bi-Plane from the Airstrip. Once there travel north east along the coast to the Tuskar settlement of Kaskala. The settlement is under attack by the Vyrkul and they require your assistance. There are a number of quests on the coast and a few more just off the coast on the ice float where their leaders have stationed themselves.
The area is very cinematic as there are constantly Vykrul ships sailing along the coast. As they near the coast they disgorge swarms of the warriors that attack the Tuskar defenders. There is a constant fight going on throughout the area and it involves players in the story line far more that a static environment where there is only the bad guys. It is also a great chance to get involved with the Tuskar as you will be dealing with them in many zones in Northrend.
Next up for quests is to head further east along the coast to Death's Stand which leads to a number of quests around the Temple City of En'kilah to the north and then the floating temple above. The quests are given to you by a reformed Death Knight that is now fighting back against the Scourge. The quests take you through the temple, fighting to first gain information and then to gather items and defeat the Scourge mini bosses there.
Eventually the quests lead you to face the local Scourge commander far above on the floating temple of Naxxanar. The fight is a scripted event for several players where the reformed Death Knight joins in to assist you. The best way to deal with the fight is to allow him to tank the boss and just keep him healed. With a single healer you can almost let him do all the fighting on his own. Once you have defeated the boss, teleport back down to the surface to go and collect your rewards, which includes a very nice DPS trinket that will be an upgrade to most players.
By the time all the quest chains have been followed and completed, you are at or near level 72 and ready to travel to the next zone, which is literally steps away to the east, Dragonblight.
If you want to see more images from the Borean Tundra check our Borean Tundra gallery, our Valiance Keep gallery, or even our Nexus gallery!
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