Getting to Dalaran - Convienience or Achievement?

[surodat]

I've been shuttling back and forth between the tundra and the fjord, stopping back in the capital cities for class training, and working my way across Northrend, picking up flight paths and riding on turtles. (By the way, is that what happened to all the turtles from the Second War? Did they retire to go hang out with carrot-depriving walruses?) I'm midway through 72, and working on getting through the starting quests in the Tundra, now that I've done most in the Fjord.

Yesterday, I got tired of the Zepplins and decided to head to Dalaran to ease my travelling headache. I'd heard that Dalaran was the Shattrath of Northrend. I mean, come on, portals and flight paths are so much easier than those damn Zepplins. I'll even pay the extra gold. My instincts told me that it would be somewhere close to the center of the continent so I headed to the Dragonblight, and started riding north. Avoiding titans, and nearly falling off some cliffs, I spotted Dalaran in the distance. Flying.

Damn it.

After spending a little time looking for a kind of translocator to get me up there, I decide to bend to my curiosity and head over to wowwiki.

You can't get there until you're 74. Unless you buy a port, or get someone to BG summon you.

Damn it all. Why didn't I know this?

But then it hit me, why should I know this? I hadn't quested for the Kirin Tor yet, I only sort of knew that the city existed, and didn't know the mechanics. My real world ignorance aligned itself with my in-game ignorance. So, I'm back to the Tundra, and starting the quests for the Kirin Tor. Because, in that little moment, my priest decided - in his little word of RP - that getting into Dalaran is something that needs to be done by actually making friends with the people who have taken the trouble to hang it way up there in the sky, and not sneaking in the back way.

I'm going in the front door, damn it.

[mesonm]

You can't get there until you're 74. Unless you buy a port, or get someone to BG summon you.

Yep.

At 74, you are given a quest that takes you there.

I'm not sure why going to Dalaran is even needed, at least before 80.

[Shellar]

I'm not sure why going to Dalaran is even needed, at least before 80.
1) Violet Hold.
2) Profession recipes that are unavailable elsewhere.

[Kaltes]

Personally once I hit 74 I am going to make the trek there. Right now my existing hearth is pointing me back to Shattrath. I want to be able to go to Dalaran as my "central hub" to the rest of Northrend, can fly anywhere, can teleport back to the regular cities... that's my goal.

[clevins]

I got BG summoned after I had all the FPs that connect from there to both starting areas. The main reason is that I want to be able to bank things that are soulbound without going back to the world and having to boat back out. Other than that? it's not a big deal. it's a very pretty place, but during leveling I don't spend much time in the cities anyway. Same as Shatt - I set hearth there at 61 or so, but I didn't hang out there, I was out questing and leveling.

[Wintrow]

Personally once I hit 74 I am going to make the trek there.

Do note that simply mounting up at L74 and finding the translocator on the ground will not suffice. That thing only works if you have already used his upstairs friend first. And doing that requires:
- being portalled there by a mage
- being summoned there by a warlock, BG master or meeting stone
- flying into it (requires L77 for Cold Weather Flying)

Just an FYI...

[Twoflower]

i was one of the first mages to hit 71.

i immeadiatly headed to dragonblight and started the quest chain to learn the teleport spell to Dalaran. I was the first in Dalaran. Damn it looked nice. Everything empty, except for me :D

BG portet my entire guild there, and by now everyone is in Dalaran. The BG porting is realy easy. Just whisper anyone you find in /who Dalaran. It takes a few seconds at most, and that is all.

[surodat]

Do note that simply mounting up at L74 and finding the translocator on the ground will not suffice. That thing only works if you have already used his upstairs friend first. And doing that requires:
- being portalled there by a mage
- being summoned there by a warlock, BG master or meeting stone
- flying into it (requires L77 for Cold Weather Flying)

Just an FYI...

Actually, there's one more way. The quest chain that gets you in.

[Shellar]

Do note that simply mounting up at L74 and finding the translocator on the ground will not suffice. That thing only works if you have already used his upstairs friend first. And doing that requires:
- being portalled there by a mage
- being summoned there by a warlock, BG master or meeting stone
- flying into it (requires L77 for Cold Weather Flying)
-talking to a mage's hologram in one of your starter locations (Warsong Hold/Vengeance Landing for the Horde, their respective equivalents for Alliance), picking up the quest, then speaking to the hologram again and asking to get teleported

[elsegundo]

i lol'ed at some mage last night who was selling ports to dal for 12 gold.

[jschild]

If he was making money, whats to laugh at?

[elsegundo]

12 gold for a port that can easily be done free elsewhere.
i think being fooled into it sucks.
i dont think he made many sales.

[Kursk]

I would pay 12g for a port. As a matter of fact, that's what I will try tonight!

Any way to make money is a good way, as long as he is not spamming it!

[elsegundo]

kinda spamming it in trade... but ok. as long as he's making gold. i just thought to myself, if i can get into dal much cheaper, and if im going there eventually anyway... what's the hurry and why pay 12 gold? i have mage friends also.

but for those who dont know any other way of getting there, i guess that's the best way. especially for those who need to buy recipes and such. who knows.

[coani]

One of the first things I did after getting into Northrend, was to make a long run across the continent (from Tundra to Fjord), grabbing all flightpaths on the way, so I could easily go back & forth without hindrance.

So when first mage in my guild hit 74 & had learned the Dalaran portal spell, I took him up on the offer to get a free port over right there & then... I was only 71, the city was empty, and it was wonderful.
Shattrath is no longer my primal HS hub.
And I love being able to hs to Dalaran to hit up the bank, port to old world to train, go hump profession npc's for daily quests (doing cooking + jewelcrafting)...

[Redhole]

12g isn't unreasonable at all IMO, I offered someone 50g to Do the BG thing for me. It's not exactly a lot of money at 70+ and is worth it simply for the ability to start doing the daily cooking quests ASAP. Northern Spices are going to be like gold dust for a while.

It's also a cool city and a great place to set your hearthstone.

[Cerberus]

Considering people have to get to 74 to do get there themselves, imagine how may whispers you get as a 74+ mage ;) People will whisper you no matter where you are and what you're doing. I don't really mind if peopel ask me in a polite way and not simply inviting you and then saying "protal pz" when they're at the other side of northrend.

I've gotten a 20g tip by mail as I didn't really ask for one and some other person offered me 30g to pick him up in Shat :)

[Marlous]

My lock is only level 71, but I also made sure to get into Dalaran as soon as I could. Sure, it's nice and convenient to have your HS set in the hub of Northrend already, but to me the most important reason was the daily jc quest that provides me with tokens to learn new gemcuts - the sooner I start those dailies, the sooner I gain access to those designs to skill up my jc and benefit both myself and my guild. Of course I can't deny that the decrease in travelling time really is nice, seeing as how it's annoying to have to go from Shat to a capital and then take the boat/zep, or fly first and then take the boat, only to end up in the starting zones.

As for selling portals there, in the past few days I've seen people on /2 (or HF/BT /1) wanting to buy a portal for 20g.. in that light, 12g is a bargain. However, I personally wouldn't pay that much for it simply because I can get in for free through guildies who have already been up there.

[TPMdm]

First mage I saw hawking ports to Dalraan wanted 1 Stack of Frostweave

[Proverbs]

yeah I'll wait til 74