Lethal Shots

Last week Anea over at Holy Discipline wrote about the guilt she feels when she doesn’t get certain daily quests done. Larisa wrote a response to Anea about how one shouldn’t feel guilty about avoiding in-game activities that they obviously don’t enjoy, and I couldn’t agree more.

There are only three that I (reluctantly) try to do every day: the daily cooking and fishing on my Hunter (only the Northrend ones) and the daily jewelcrafting one on my Shaman. Other than those three, I haven’t done dailies in almost 2 months. And the three I attempt to do don’t get done every day. Hell, the only reason I do them is because they are the only source of certain rewards. I do the cooking daily to buy recipes and spices, the fishing daily offers a shot at some epic gems (also to level of my fishing a little bit every day), and the jewelcrafting daily is the only way to buy more gem cuts.

And to be perfectly honest, there will be a point when I will stop doing even these dailies. Once I have a sufficient stockpile of spices, there will be no reason to do the cooking daily anymore. I might continue to do the fishing daily simply for the easy gold while I fish up mats for buff food, but it will be far from an everyday occurrence. There will also come a time when I won’t need to buy anymore recipes, meaning no more reason to do the jewelcrafting daily. Sure, I will need to do it once in a while to keep myself supplied with Dragon’s Eyes, but at most this will be a once a week thing.

You may be wondering why I have an aversion to daily quests. It is really a simple reason:

They are boring. Completely, totally, utterly, mind-numbingly boring.

I used to do 15-25 a day. Hell, that is how I made enough money for my Hunter’s epic flying back in TBC. I even got him a Nether Ray and a Nether Drake. But now? I can’t stomach doing more than a few. I choose to make my money elsewhere. Sure I ground to exalted with the walrus guys, but it was only 3 dailies a day, and as with the dailies i still do, it was the only way to get the best fishing pole in the game. And once i got it, I never did those quests again. Argent Tournament? I’ve been there a total of one time, did the dailies once, and never went back. Even the announcement of more content up there in 3.2 is not enough to make me go back. I’m not even exalted with the Sons of Hodir yet. I just can’t bring myself to go up there every day.

But unlike Anea, I don’t feel the slightest bit of guilt. I am having fun, and after all isn’t that what a game is for? Go level an alt, go for achievements, run instances, or even just sit in Dalaran talking to your friends. Don’t let a game you love turn into a job you hate.

For those wondering about where I make my money now, no I do not buy gold. I use the AH to keep myself supplied with gold. Buy mats, craft, and sell. Simple, yet I enjoy it and it takes very little of my in-game time.

With Wrath came an interesting addition to the game: Leveling Dailies. No longer do you have to wait until the level cap to get started on rep grinds. The most prominent of these new dailies is the Dalaran Cooking Daily. This quest is a must for anyone wanting to pursue upper level cooking, since it rewards the currency needed to purchase the highest recipes.

To take this quest, simply visit your factions inn and talk to the NPC there. You will be given one of 5 possible quests. If you come prepared, only one of these quests will require you to leave Dalaran.

Each quest will reward you with:

• 150 Kirin Tor Rep
• 15700 exp (9g 33s at Level 80)
• 4-6 gold
• 1-2 Dalaran Cooking Awards
• Small Spice Bag.

Most of these rewards are just fluff. What you are really after is the Cooking Awards and Small Spice Bags. The Awards are use to buy the high level cooking patterns and Northern Spices. The Spice Bags contain Northern Spices, and occasionally extra Cooking Awards and rare recipes.

Anyway, on to the quests:

• Infused Mushroom Meatloaf – In my experience this is the most common quest given. To complete:
  1. Obtain 2 Chilled Meat – Drops from any Northrend beast.
  2. Obtain 4 Infused Mushrooms – These are found in the Dalaran sewers.
  3. Use the Meatloaf Pan to create a Infused Mushroom Meatloaf – Requires a cooking fire.
  4. Deliver the Infused Mushroom Meatloaf to Orton Bennet – He can be found inside the building at 52.o, 55.2.
• Cheese for Glowergold – This may be the easiest of the lot, as all of the required items can be gotten in Dalaran. It can also be the most frustrating due to the competition for items. To complete:
  1. Obtain 6 Half Full Dalaran Wine Glasses – These can be found on any of the tables in the inn.
  2. Obtain Aged Dalaran Limburger – Found in one of several random locations inside the cheese shop. Entrance at 53.5, 35.2.
  3. Use the Empty Cheese Serving Platter to combine the items into a Wine and Cheese Platter – No fire required for this one.
  4. Deliver the Wine and Cheese Platter Ranid Glowergold – He can be found inside the building at 36.5, 28.5.
• Convention at the Legerdemain – Once again, Very straightforward quest. To complete:
  1. Obtain 12 Norther Stew – You can cook these yourself or purchase them.
  2. Obtain a Jug of Wine – Found in one of several random locations inside the cheese shop. Entrance at 53.5, 35.2.
  3. Deliver the items to Arille Azuregaze – He can be found inside the building at 48.5, 38.1.
• Mustard Dogs! – Another easy one. (See a pattern yet?) To complete:
  1. Obtain 4 Rhino Dogs – You can cook these yourself or purchase them.
  2. Obtain 4 Wild Mustard – These can be found in any of the grassy areas of Dalaran.
  3. Use the Empty Picnic Basket to combine the items into a Mustard Dog Basket! – No fire needed.
  4. Deliver the Mustard Dog Basket! to Archamge Pentarus – He can be found on Krasus’s Landing at approximately 68.7, 42.5.
• Sewer Stew – This one option that no one will blame you for skipping. It requires you to leave Dalaran for some of the mats, which you can’t stockpile. To complete:
  1. Obtain 4 Crystalsong Carrots – These can be found below Dalaran in Crystalsong Forest.
  2. Obtain 4 Chilled Meat – Drops from any Northrend beast.
  3. Use the Stew Cookpot to create Vegetable Stew – Requires a cooking fire.
  4. Deliver the Vegetable Stew to Ajay Green – He can be found by the inn in the Dalaran Sewers at approximately 35.9, 57.5.

As you can see, all of these are pretty straightforward and shouldn’t take you long to complete. I do have a few tips to help you complete them faster.

• Keep at least 1 stack of Chilled Meat in your bags or bank so that you can complete the quest without leaving Dalaran.
• Keep at least 1 stack of Rhino Meat (or Rhino Dogs) for the same reason you keep Chilled Meat.
• Try to complete these in the off hours for your server. I have run into severe competition for some of the quest items when trying to do during peak time.

Thoughts, comments, or suggestions? Leave them below.