I think I’ve found one of the secrets that Blizz says still exists for the expansion.
The images on the Dark Portal in Outland I thought were amusing, there are obvious references on the portal of Diablo from Blizz’s other series of games, and some would argue, Deathwing himself.
Diabloish images on the Dark Portal
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/Amanare/DiabloPortalPic.jpg Anyways, even after a few weeks of having my epic flying mount, I never gave that area a good buzzing. Oh, I prowled it a lot once it opened, but since then it’s been rather deserted. There is a lot going on at the portal, and it’s fun to watch, but my eyes soon looked up to the massive ledges above.
Flying up I was able to land in one of the sword bearing guardian statues (Whatever they are), and skirted the top of the whole structure lazily. For kicks I put on Detect Invisibility, I remember finding an invisible gas cloud in Netherstorm that would regen your mana if you stood in it, but only if you could see it. Behind the portal was nothing, kinda disappointing, but you can enter the back of the portal and zone to Azeroth just like you can the front. I again checked the top, it has lots of nooks and crannies, but nothing special.
As I was flying down to the other side, there was a figure standing on top of the pommels of the statues’ swords! I was curious as to what another player was doing here, when I had obviously claimed the portal as my own!
The “player” was actually an NPC quest giver! I was so use to knowing that I wouldn’t see the gold “!” for a while I must not have recognized it from afar.
The NPC, Deckard
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/Amanare/DeckardCain.jpg He explained in a story (Which was the quest, having to read his story) that there was a terrible power Sargeras had found on his crusade through the nether, one of the first worlds he reached. He tried in vain to convert the monsters to demons for his armies, but Deckard said these creatures were already demonic in nature. His meddling only enraged the denizens of the planet, causing Sargeras to flee. Sargeras got the upper hand by locking the world away behind another portal, one of many that still exist in Outland. He planned on returning one day to the portal, to corrupt it in such a way that it would force anyone who entered, or exited, to his will permanently, and it’s how he planned on controlling this power. Even now minions of Sargeras work to keep the portal sealed and prepare it for conversion.
I had seen a portal before, there’s a decrepit one in Zangamarsh that looks like it’s sinking into a lake, perhaps there’s one hidden in each zone?
The NPC’s second quest was to kill the Pit Commander down below... no easy task... He said that the demon had stolen a magical box from him, I don’t remember the name of it exactly, sounded kind of Egyptian, anyways, he wanted this box back. With the help of some enslave demon (hehe) and the mass of hapless NPC’s defending the portal, I was able to bring the thing down. It did take a few tries, I hoped to let the NPC’s keep the aggro for me, but I tended to steal it and the thing would come and hit me for 3-6K.
Pit Commander down!
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/Amanare/DeadPitCommander.jpg I got the box and returned it to Deckard, his next quest was interesting, he wanted me to collect two rare items, Cow King’s Hide and Wirt’s Third Leg, 100 gold, and my Hearthstone. It was listed as 1/1 already when I had accepted his quest. The two rares are both mediocre BOE items, and I was able to acquire them off the auction house for not too much bad of a cost. The gold I already had, as well as my Hearthstone. I made sure that you really COULD get your Hearthstone back from any Innkeeper once you lost it, before turning in this quest. The quest reward was just a red “?,” and I wasn’t about to risk losing an item like that permanently.
Turning in the quest, he gave me a rare ring, with some decent stats, but more for a Druid or Shaman, really. I assumed, having the reward, the quest line was over, but no! Now that I had this ring, Deckard told me it was now my responsibility to go put a stop to this threat!
The Quest Reward
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/Amanare/StoneofJordan.jpg For the next quest he gave me an order to find the portal and stop this ritual, because the minions of Sargeras were growing weaker each day trying to sustain the energies needed to keep the portal sealed. By wearing this new ring, I could now see a trail of evil energy that was slowly leaking it’s way from the right portal! Deckard said by flying through the portal, I would disrupt the channeling and destroy Sargeras’s hope of using the creatures for his crusade.
The Energy Path
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/Amanare/InvisPath.jpg don’t remember seeing this portal before, it was in Nagrand, high up in an area called Twilight Ridge. There was an elite Eredar there, and Orcs channeling at a portal. So, I flew through it!
Hitting the gate, I paused, unable to move, and the channeling of the Orcs stopped, they were all killed! Then a loading screen appeared...
Hitting the Portal!
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/Amanare/PortalOpening-1.jpg I was now on the other side of the portal! It was imbedded into a mountain wall, and before me was a flat nothing, and weird music. I couldn’t use my flying mount here, so I used my Dreadsteed and ran into this weird zone, hoping to find something, maybe it was an unfinished zone. I could see the horizon far off, but where ever I was, it was large, round, and empty. Or so I thought.
There was an NPC that appeared, holding a fire sword. Well, amusing, I thought, and since it attacked me, I killed it, not very hard of an NPC, and it’s loot wasn’t anything special either. But the thing had during the fight emoted that it called for help, and I was still in combat once it had died.
The First Foe is Easily Downed
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/Amanare/HellBovine.jpg Suddenly two more ran into sight, right at me, then 4, then 6, and, well, it wasn’t pretty. It was like they were spawning just out of sight and zeroing in on me. Soon I was surrounded by tons of them, and they finished me off pretty fast.
Surrounded
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/Amanare/HellBovineHorde.jpg It could be a new event Blizz is working on, I dunno. None of the loot wasn’t that particularly great, and the GY is on the other side of the zone from the entrance portal... and my Hearthstone was turned in for the quest...
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/Amanare/HellBovineText.jpg don’t remember seeing this portal before, it was in Nagrand, high up in an area called Twilight Ridge. There was an elite Eredar there, and Orcs channeling at a portal. So, I flew through it!
Hitting the gate, I paused, unable to move, and the channeling of the Orcs stopped, they were all killed! Then a loading screen appeared...
Hitting the Portal!
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/Amanare/PortalOpening-1.jpg I was now on the other side of the portal! It was imbedded into a mountain wall, and before me was a flat nothing, and weird music. I couldn’t use my flying mount here, so I used my Dreadsteed and ran into this weird zone, hoping to find something, maybe it was an unfinished zone. I could see the horizon far off, but where ever I was, it was large, round, and empty. Or so I thought.
There was an NPC that appeared, holding a fire sword. Well, amusing, I thought, and since it attacked me, I killed it, not very hard of an NPC, and it’s loot wasn’t anything special either. But the thing had during the fight emoted that it called for help, and I was still in combat once it had died.
The First Foe is Easily Downed
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/Amanare/HellBovine.jpg Suddenly two more ran into sight, right at me, then 4, then 6, and, well, it wasn’t pretty. It was like they were spawning just out of sight and zeroing in on me. Soon I was surrounded by tons of them, and they finished me off pretty fast.
Surrounded
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/Amanare/HellBovineHorde.jpg It could be a new event Blizz is working on, I dunno. None of the loot wasn’t that particularly great, and the GY is on the other side of the zone from the entrance portal... and my Hearthstone was turned in for the quest...
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h156/Amanare/HellBovineText.jpg
Blaze Edit:
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This isn't real and you believed it! lol, you suck!