The Echo Isles: The Troll Starting Experience (1-5)

As most of you fellows know, the troll and gnome starting experiences are being totally overhauled as they are granted new starting areas. While the gnome starting area is currently not implemented it is sadly not yet available for testing. Kizaru of WoWleaks.com asked me about a walk-through of the troll starting experience so Kizaru; This one's for you.. And all the readers ofcourse! I will be playing through this on a newly created Troll Warlock (Yes, trolls can be warlocks) named Trollololo.

The trolls start off on The Echo Isles which have recently been reclaiming by Vol'Jin and his people after a showdown against Zalazane who had taken over the islands. On these islands they have built a new home and are trying to return to living a normal life. When I log in I am greeted by the race cinematic, which is currently un-voiced and I am therefore not able to tell you what is told here. It gives a beautiful look at the islands though.

You start off as a young troll alongside your brother (as I understood it. He is mentioned as 'brother' later), Zuni on the big island at the center. Zuni and you are told by Jin'Thala that you both shall begin your training to serve the Darkspear Tribe and help to make sure that the Echo Isles return a sanctuary for the tribe. You are sent to your trainer: In my case, the warlock trainer. The entire center-isle is dedicated to training new troops and contains trolls of all classes training.

Your trainer tells you that he/she wants to test your skills and wants you to fight some tiki-mask wearing attack dummies. Once you are done, your trainer is clearly impressed.

You are then sent off to kill some of the wild cats that are scattered around the isles and bring back their pelts. Once that was done, I was awarded with a nice green chest at level 2! Please note that this quest may differ depending on your class and so may the reward! At the end, I was sent into a nearby pit to be tested against an opponent - a naga that they have captured.

Once my training at my trainer was done, I was sent to report to Vol'Jin at the big Darkspear Hold in the south-eastern part of the island. Vol'Jin shows a vision of him and Garrosh argueing and explains that part of the reason as to why the Darkspear are here is because Garrosh didn't want them in his city and because of diplomatic complications with the new warchief.

Vol'Jin sends you to speak to Moraya, the keeper of the raptor pen. Along the way I got some crab meat for Tora'jin who had trouble eating boar meat because he was getting old. When I found Moraya she sent me to the southern island to help the raptor handlers there. On my way there I met Zuni again, who just wanted to say hi.

At the southern island I was told that a naga at an island to the north-west has been toying with a red orb, causing the nearby raptors and caused them to become corrupted. He has also lured a lot of the tame baby raptors to his island where he intends to corrupt them and use them against the Darkspear. I get a flute for taming the babies and off I go. I gathered 12 hatchlings and killed the corrupted raptors I was asked to. Then it was time for a showdown! Once I engaged the naga, Naj'tess, all the small baby raptors went berzerk on him. It was awesome!

I delivered the babies and the orb to the raptor handlers and they told me that they had one final task for me. The fastest raptor on the Echo Isles, Swiftclaw, has broken free and needs to be returned to the raptor pens on the main island. I found Razorclaw and caught him with a lasso. I got on his back, which didn't stop him from running so I steered him back to the raptor pens and reported to Moraya.

The warrior Tortunga then asked me to go to Spitescale Cove to the north of the main island. Vol'Jin has called all able-bodied trolls to arms in an all-out attack on the naga that are invading the island. I am to report to Morakki once there.

Once there, I see that the trolls are locked in combat with the hordes of naga. Morakki tells me to enter the nearby cave to try and fight them back. I am to kill nagas in the cave as well as replace their flags with tiki-masks. This is pretty easy as the nagas don't attack you on sight.

Before I know it I am out of the cave and reporting to Morakki again. Morakki tells me that they have found out who is behind this: The Naga Sea Witch that the Darkspears fled from in Warcraft 3! She has returned to enslave our people and Vol'Jin is waiting for me to report to him.

Vol'Jin is just up the hill with Zuni and Vanira. I report to Vol'Jin and the attack begins. The Sea Witch is level ??? boss elite and has about 3 million HP. For a low-level quest it is a pretty long fight but your regeneration is upped by Vanira's totems so it is no problem. During the fight the Sea Witch spawns several banshees that will attack whoever is nearest. The NPCs can kill them in one hit so it's no big deal.

About half-way through the fight she freezes everyone leaving only you unfrozen. She seems to be getting her powers from three braziers behind her. I step in and step on the braziers, extinguishing them. She does this again just before she dies and this time Zuni jumps in to extinguish the braziers. But Zuni is killed as the Sea Witch throws one last spells before her death.

This is where Zuni is mentioned as being my brother. This is the only place it is said so I am in doubt if we are related or not. I might be adopted, who knows? Vol'Jin has claimed his revenge and our people is saved. Vol'Jin tells me to report to him in Darkspear Hold.

In Darkspear Hold Vol'Jin tells me that when the Sea Witch died, an enourmous burst of power was released and spread across the islands. This power allows Vol'Jin to make visions to places far away, even to the Maelstrom. He tells the player he has no plans of leaving the horde and tells me to report to Master Gadrin in Sen'Jin Village. As I leave, Vol'Jin consults a vision of Thrall, discussing the diplomatic problems he has with Hellscream...

Additional screenshots of Echo Isles will be added to the gallery later!