Top 5 - Classic WoW Alliance Quest Chains

Hey dudes! Silvite Soltis here again and today I'm happy to finally be doing another top 5 list. It's been a while since I played around with this - mostly due to lots of real-life commitments and the like - but since I'd really like to do at least one every month, now seems as good a time as ever to jump back into it.

So far, we've already covered my top 5 dungeons, zones, music tracks, and classes. Because of that, and the fact that my Memories of Vanilla series keeps reminding me of these, I've decided to head back out into the world and tell about my favorite quest chains in classic World of Warcraft.

Keep in mind that my vanilla experience has been basically entirely Alliance until now, so for this list I'm only going to focus on the Alliance quests. I'm planning to do another top 5 for Horde quest chains when I eventually complete many of them on WoW Classic later this year, but for now let's just get right into it. Here are my Top 5 Classic WoW Alliance Quest Chains!

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#5 - Saving Sharpbeak

The Feels...

Actually probably one of the more surprising entries on this list - especially for people like me that entirely forgot that the Hinterlands existed for a while - Saving Sharpbeak tells the heartwarming story of a Dwarf and his Gryphon. Or, rather, his search for the baby Gryphon. See, some evil troll dudes had apparently kidnapped Sharpbeak and were planning to sacrifice him or something like that. Of course, in the beginning we had no idea about any of that though. As the standard adventurer, it was the player's job to run around the zone of the Hinterlands, searching for clues as to where Sharpbeak might have been taken.


What follows is an adventure of epic proportions in which you travel the world - down to the Blasted Lands, across the ocean into Zul'Farrak, and eventually back to the Hinterlands - in search of the answer. What has happened to Swiftwing's heir? What has happened to Sharpbeak?


Eventually, we found out that the gryphon was atop the massive troll stronghold of Jintha'Alor and our objective is clear: We fight our way through the droves of elite forest troll enemies, kill one of the leaders there, steal the key, and then find and free Sharpbeak.


Honestly, I still get chills when I think of this quest. Even though it's only one of MANY amazing quest chains in classic WoW, and may honestly be forgotten by many, it's got a special place in my heart. Thus I believe it is a solid quest chain to start off this list.

#4 - The Embalmer

Just an Old Dude in a Graveyard. Nothing to See Here...

Ok so, there's this creepy old dude hanging out in a shack by a graveyard. Next to him is a giant crate with chains holding it shut. What do you do?


Well...literally everything he asks you to apparently.


All kidding aside though, this quest chain is absolutely amazing. You start out believing you're just performing some simple errands for a poor old man who has made himself a hermit out by the Raven Hill Cemetery. As you follow his instructions, however, things begin taking a darker and darker turn. Eventually, after many adventures throughout the Duskwood zone, you are tasked with delivering a letter to the town hall of Darkshire. Soon after, a roar is heard in the woods: Stitches has been unleashed.


The Embalmer questline (AKA Stitches) is an amazing story that really emphasizes the role we, the player, find ourselves in as we traverse the world of Azeroth. We are merely random dudes or dudettes looking for some loot, coin, and sweet exp from any quest giver we can find. And though this quest chain is littered with red flags in the dialogue, we didn't care as long as we got ours. (Plus, did anyone actually read the quest text the first time around?) But for those of us with a soul, and the patience to actually read what we were doing instead of tabbing to Thottbot for every quest, the guilt felt at the end of the chain about what we'd unleashed upon our fellow leveling players in Duskwood was real.

#3 - The Missing Diplomat

Holy massively long quest chain, Batman!

Wanna Go on an Adventure?

One of the only quest chains in this list that actually kept the same name throughout its entire duration, The Missing Diplomat begins by tasking the player with speaking with a bishop in Stormwind to discuss a highly confidential issue of great importance to the Alliance. As lowly level 28-30s, we had no idea what we were in for as we began this quest. But eventually, we'd unravel the mystery as the quest givers sent us from zone to zone, speaking with all sorts of undercover individuals, scouring a marsh, and just generally being badass detectives.

Fight me, Bro!

Eventually, we learn that the diplomat that went missing was the freaking KING OF STORMWIND! And that the Defias Brotherhood (you know...those guys we kicked out of Westfall back at level 20 or so) were behind his disappearance.

Is this Quest Chain Done Yet? Nope!

Honestly, I don't remember every step of this chain - mostly because it's close to 20 quests in total - but when I hear the name of this chain mentioned in other videos, I always get a tingle of nostalgia. The Missing Diplomat is, quite frankly, the first quest where we as a player begin to feel less like a nameless adventurer and more like a genuine hero of the Alliance. It's an absolute MUST to complete while leveling in Classic WoW and I look forward to doing it again (someday) on my Alliance alts.

#2 - The Defias Brotherhood

VanCleef

No matter what race or class you rolled, everyone that has played an Alliance character past level 20 has done this quest. It is possibly the most defining quest of lowbie Alliance questing and the first time we see ourselves really unraveling a serious mystery out in the world. Until this chain, our leveling experience mostly focused on "run over there and kill those guys," followed up by "ok, now go kill some of those slightly stronger guys" or "go pick up 10 of these and 3 of those" quests. The Defias Brotherhood, however, had us travel back and forth between zones to investigate this mysterious organization that has been causing all sorts of problems around the kingdom of Stormwind.


Eventually, we uncovered the true nature of this shady organization and dived into the Deadmines to take out the head - both figuratively and literally. And upon completing this task, we were rewarded with an object of great power - a blue quality item (the first for many of us back in the day - especially if you didn't get lucky in the dungeon).


Honestly, choosing between The Missing Diplomat and The Defias Brotherhood was a really hard decision to make, as both are EXTREMELY iconic Alliance quest chains that really showed our growth as characters in the story of Azeroth at that time. The only real reason I placed The Defias Brotherhood over The Missing Diplomat in the end is that it is just a bit more straightforward and widely known. Like I said, EVERYONE has done this quest, whereas my #3 was more exclusive due to its higher level requirement. The Defias Brotherhood also culminates in a dungeon, which is always a fun way to end a quest chain, in my opinion. All in all, a solid #2.

Honorable Mentions

• In Defense of the King's Lands (Loch Modan)
• The Maclures and the Stonefields (Elwynn Forest)
• Beached Sea Creatures (Darkshore)
• Literally every other quest chain in Duskwood... (Morbent Fel, Mor'Ladim, The Legend of Stalvan, etc.)

#1 - Onyxia Attunement

If you managed to make it this far in this list, I really doubt you're surprised by this choice of number 1. Everyone that talks about WoW Classic, and everyone I've ever spoken to about the quests, raves about this quest chain and how amazing it is. From start to finish, it's a roller coaster of adventure.

Stormwind Rendezvous

You start off with a simple unsuspecting quest in the Burning Steppes - kill some dragons. Easy enough. But before you know it you're diving into Blackrock Depths, running to Stormwind, searching for notes, and breaking a random dude in his boxers out of prison. All for what?

To go and slay a big freaking dragon that's manipulating your kingdom from the inside, that's what!

Ohai!

Seriously, the Onyxia attunement quest chain has got some of the most gripping and engaging storytelling in all of classic WoW. Telling the amazing story of Reginald Windsor, a character who is both badass and tragic, this questline really pulls in the player and makes you feel like a champion of the Alliance. Sure, some of the individual quests can be frustrating at times and it's not the most intuitive of quests - especially having to find the crumpled up note to continue in the middle, but honestly these aspects are what made it so intriguing. An unwary player could finish all the prerequisites, not knowing what it was leading to, find the note, and then be sucked right back into it!

Oshit!

Plus, after breaking Windsor out of prison, you got the single-greatest solo event in Classic - The Great Masquerade - in which you slowly walk through the city streets with the Alliance hero to confront the Brood Mother in the Keep. Ok yeah, the quest is labeled as a 60+ raid quest, but c'mon. Who actually did it in a raid group?

She Deep Breathes More...

But it didn't end there! Once you finally got that far, you had the super-vague task of finding some random person who can help you from there. And, of course, that person is on the opposite side of the world in the middle of nowhere in Winterspring...


Do a dungeon (UBRS this time), get some blood, empower a necklace, and go fight a big-ass dragon!


10/10 would do again.

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So, there you have it - my top 5 Alliance quest chains in World of Warcraft: Classic. Honestly, there are tons of amazing quests that all have a place in my heart, but these are the first and most powerful ones I could think of. It's also worth noting that I didn't focus much on the early Kalimdor zones back in the day, so I may have missed a few gems in places like Teldrassil, Darkshore, and Ashenvale. So, let me know if there were any particularly notable chains there if you like and I'll definitely check them out.

Initially, I was thinking maybe I should make a "Top 5 Classic Quests" post, but seeing as I'd never really played Horde back in the day, I decided to focus on one side here. As I've said before, I'm planning on maining Horde when WoW Classic launches in summer 2019, so I think when the time comes I'll make a list for Horde side to go with this one. And, of course, I'll make a list for neutral quests as well for good measure - as there are an absolute crap-ton of amazing chains that both sides can do.

But anyway, that's all for now. If you enjoyed this, make sure to follow my blog by adding yourself to my email list below. Follow me on Facebook and Twitter, and check out my video content over on YouTube. There's a lot more coming later on, but for now, take it easy!