The Argent Tournament: Part 3

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Part 1 and Part 2, if you fancy.

So you're busy collecting Valiant Seals for Darnassus, right? You need 25 of them to become a tried and true champion. There are a few different dailies that open up for you over by the Darnassus peeps: one that has you kill scourge, one where you joust NPCs at the AT, another where you joust NPCs in Icecrown, and others that have you go get weapons from hot wenches around Northrend by wooing them with kisses, flowers, or flames.

Note that on the west side of the tournament, there are other dailies that have opened up as well. These are similar to the Darnassus dailies. They have you kill scourge and joust those same people in Icecrown, too! Well that's neat, because it means these dailies overlap. Two birds with one stone, baby! They also have you do a group quest to kill an elite dragon, Chillmaw. As a resto druid, I do NOT recommend trying this alone. =P Fortunately, there are always quite a few people hanging around in general chat that need the quest as well.

Note that the rewards for the west side dailies are different. You don't get Valiant seals for them: instead, you get a choice between a Champions Writ (with these, you can buy rep from quartermasters once you're championed with them), or a bag of money (10g), PLUS, you get Champion seals, no matter what. Now, Champion seals are the currency used to buy things from the faction's quartermasters, like mounts, noncombat pets, or gear. Note that you can only access a faction's quartermaster once you're championed with them (except for your own faction - you can access Darnassus' quartermaster from the very beginning).

So you're doing your dailies each day - and what happens when you get all 25 Valiant seals? Well, you turn in the meta quest, become a true champion of Darnassus, and you get a PET BOY. No, I'm not kidding. You get a noncombat pet, which happens to be a boy. Isn't it wrong to think of him as a pet? I mean, he's *officially classified* as a non combat pet. He's a *pet*. God. It really seems wrong. He follows you around and carries all your stuff for you. He also will carry around a banner of any faction you have championed whenever you ask him to. It's hilarious.

The other exciting thing that you can do (other than order around your squire and make him carry heavy things) is go and champion another faction. And no, you don't have to be exalted with a faction to go ahead and pursue championship with them. Personally, I chose Exodar. Why? I don't know. Draenei chicks are hot. What. Also: elephants! Er, elekks. Whatever. ALSO: I need to get my rep up with them, because I'm not yet exalted. Doing dailies for them gives you 250 rep for Exodar each time you hand one in, and once I get 25 Valiant seals, I can turn in those Champion Writs (that you get from turning in the other set of dailies on the west side of the AT) to the Exodar Quartermaster in exchange for 250 rep.

So there you have it: A quick three parter for the Argent Tournament! I'm so close to getting the mini-tree pet, I can taste it. I think I'll be getting it tonight... you can bet good money that I will post pictures of my baby tree on here soon! =D

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The Argent Tournament: Part 2

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You know what sucks? Being sick. I've had a 100+ degree fever for like 3 days now. I can barely swallow, and I've never seen so much mucus come out of a person, ever. It's coming out of my EYES. Yeah. As I've typed this little paragraph, I gotten up THREE times to blow my nose.

I went to the doctor, and she tested me for strep throat. Negative. "It's just a virus. You just need time to recover." Time? Give me drugs!!!

*coughcough* ow.

Sigh.

So, you've done the three days of dailies. You've collected 15 Aspirant Seals, and handed them in. Now what do you do?

You pick up a quest to go visit Squire David in the Aspirant Circle, in the northern parts of the Argent Tournament grounds. Once you talk to David, he'll send out a valiant dude on horseback that you'll have to defeat in order to complete the quest. Note: Squire David is a bitch to find. He's very small. Born premature, I've heard. A little slow sometimes. This map from Banana Shoulders helps point him out. See the area labeled B? That's where he is. Seriously though, it took me like 15 minutes to find him. I was standing RIGHT THERE, asking people in /say, "durr do you know where squire david is?" Of course no one helped me. Sigh. That's because it was OBVIOUS where he was. My excuse is that I'm sick, and not in the right mind.

So you defeat the valiant jouster duder, go back to the main guy in the tent, hand in the quest, and he tells you that you're worth enough to go talk to the people from your home city (they're in the same tent). You talk to them, pick up the dailies, and rock em out.

Now there's another quest that the Darnassus chick gives you. It's similar to the "hand in 15 Aspirant Seals after three days of dailies" quest. Except this time, it's "hand in 25 Valiant Seals after five days of dailies." You can only earn 5 Valiant Seals per day.

So essentially, before you can start actually earning Champion Seals, you do need to do 8 days of dailies.

And what can Champion Seals buy you? Well. You can get various weapons and gear. Nothing that looks much better than great PvP or PvE stuff, but it ain't bad.

You can also get a different mini pet for each race for which you become a champion. For Darnassus, you get the Teldrassil Sproutling (a little mini tree!)

More on Champion Seals in the upcoming Part 3!

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The Argent Tournament: Part 1

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GUYS.

The Argent Tournament!!!

I went into it not really knowing what to expect. Jousting? Horses? General carousing and mayhem! Wenches serving alcohol for my imbibing pleasure! Daily quests abound! Horde ganking, spectators spectating, vehicle mechanics being slightly annoying, crowds cheering!!!

Right?

Well, yeah, pretty much! There's an inn, and a little Tuskarr dude making a living there by selling refreshments, and spectators on bleachers, and there are shirts you can buy to represent your home town (DARNASSUS RULES!!!), except they're 25g each and really have no use other than to just wear them. Excerpt from guild chat:

[Guild] [Averna]: so I just bought a darnassus shirt for 25g
[Guild] [Averna]: am I an idiot?
[Guild] [Norda]: yes

Well then.

How do I get there?

There's a guy in Dalaran on the right side of Krassus' Landing sitting on a gryphon. He'll give you a free flight up to northern Icecrown (it's a one-time thing). Once you get there, grab the flight path.

There are also two daily quests right in front of you that you can pick up. One requires you to go to Crystal Song forest, and the other sends you to the Stormpeaks.

Ok, sure, dailies, but I wanna joust!

Well, before you can actually start the tournament, you have to demonstrate your worth to the Argent Crusade. As Illidan once said, you are not prepared. So! To prepare yourself, you have to go and do some quests that will prove your awesomeness.

The first set of quests teach you how to joust. Check out these abilities (taken from MMO-Champion):


1. Thrust: Melee attack, does some damage, but damages you as well. Ouch. (See 4)
2. Shield Breaker: Ranged attack, some damage, AND takes down one layer of defense.
3. Charge: Ranged attack, does a LOT of damage, and takes down one layer of defense.
4. Defend: Adds one layer of defense (can stack up to 3). Use this before Thrust!
5. Refresh Mount: Heals your mount, but has a 1 minute cooldown.
6. Duel: Challenge someone to jousting match!

There are three quests to do: One makes you practice a ranged attack, the second, a melee attack, and the third, a charge. You also have to speak with the respective masters of these attacks which are right near the target dummies on which you practice. I'd recommend you speaking to them first, as they give you advice on how to do each attack.

After you learn how to joust, then you're onto the second step of proving yourself, so go ahead and pick up the next three quests!

They send you all over the place - Howling Fjord, Crystalsong Forest, Icecrown, even Westfall. Oddly enough, it's not that annoying. Turning in these quests will give you Aspirant Seals (one or two for each quest turn-in - you get 5 total if you do all three quests), of which you need 15 to advance to actual joustage. Therefore you need to do 3 days worth of dailies to get all 15 Aspirant Seals and complete the quest [Up to the Challenge].

Hey, the new music in this zone is pretty neat.

I KNOW!

But isn't this just like an achievement/time-sink? What really is the point?

In my humble opinion, the Argent Crusade is trying to strengthen the morale of the people with a rallying tournament, and also, by having them compete, identify those that are most courageous and brave of heart, and would be best suited to join them in defeating the scourge. It also helps strengthen the loyalties that people feel towards their home city, or their city of choice.

Lorestuffs aside, Blizzard is trying something new here. It's part daily quest hub (people are calling it the new Quel'Danas), part PvP, part lolvehicle. Yes, it's for people who want more achievements or mini pets or mounts or titles or dailies. If you're someone who doesn't care about achievements, or collecting pets, then should you skip this over? I'd say no! It's new, and it's fun, and it's worth at least a once over. A beautifully conceived, unexpected gem from Blizzard.


Tune in for part 2 of the Argent Tournament - I'll be posting more soon!

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