After completing my quest to get the berserker stance for my Elf Warrior, I was trying to get from Fray Island, near Ratchet, to Chill Point in the Alterac Mountains to do the next leg in the quest, The Windwatcher.
Trying to get the fastest way to travel from one continent to another, I checked thottbot.com and found this comment by a reader:
"To get to the Alterac Mountains in the Western Plaguelands, you need to visit the Zepplin transport tower outside of Origimmar. It's the southern entrance, off to the east. Ask any guard, they will point it out to you. Take the Zeppelin going to Undercity, you have to ask one of two NPCs to see which one. Like the ships in Ratchet, you wait for it to arrive then hop on. Ride is free.
Once you arrive in Undercity, run south, swim east across the lake and your pretty much there."
So I followed his instructions, running to the Horde city of Origimmar, and just a little curious why he would suggest a route that would take my Alliance Elf into enemy Horde territory, and even onto enemy public transport, but figured, it must a faster route and everybody does it.
Along the way, I ran past Horde towns and their NPC guards came after me, unprovoked, and some of them killed me. After dying for the third time, I began to wonder if it was the right way for my character to get to my destination.
By the time I reached Origimmar's Zeppelin tower and got set upon by the tower guards (who despatched me swiftly, being waaaay higher level Orcs), I knew I had made a mistake. The instructions must have been for Horde warriors doing that quest.
A check with James confirmed that, yeah, Horde Zeppelin balloon transports were meant for Horde only, just like Alliance ships and MRT trains were meant for Alliance use. But he did hear of a Horde player who once got onto the Stormwind Alliance MRT, just that he died a lot to do it.
Er, I said, I think I may be on my way to take a Horde Zep as an unwelcome character then.
"Take screenshot!" said James, reminding me that there are more important things in life than trying to keep my character alive.
I figured, hey, what the heck, I am already here, I can't turn back because that would mean running through Horde towns again, so I waited for the Zep to arrive before dashing into it immediately after resurrecting from my death inside the Zep tower, with the Orc guards on my tail.
When I got onboard, the guards did not follow, and the other Horde players were surprisingly friendly, and one even waved at me. They must have checked my character level and figured a newbie like me must have made a mistake and it was not some one-elf suicide raid on their towns.
When I got off at Stranglethorn, I got killed by the Orc guards again, but I managed to take a few more screenshots and got away from the Grom'gol camp after resurrecting and made my long trek back to friendly territory.
A fun little adventure for a newbie like me. Personally, I think a Horde Zep is a much nicer way to travel than by Alliance ship. The views are nicer, and the inflight service was great. Too bad my character can't do it often, heheh.
