Except for the batteries dying in my wireless keyboard in the middle of the Mekgineer Thermaplugg boss fight, the instance run went off without a hitch. I managed to acquire four rare items from this instance and associated quests. Anyway, not much else to report here.

The quests here are very similar to the Hemet Nesingwary quests in Stranglethorn Vale and Nagrand. You know, kill a bunch of this and this and this. Oh, and bring me some of that.

Unlike the aforementioned quests, the Mirage Raceway quests do not require you to go all over the zone. In fact, all you need to do is make circles around the Raceway, basically grinding on all the mobs you find. It will only take a circuit or two to complete the quests you’ve gotten from the quest givers. If you rest up and make sure you have plenty of double XP available, you’ll be well rewarded.

Oh, and make sure you look both ways before crossing the raceway. Those rocket car pilots don’t stop for pedestrians!

For the short time I was an Alliance player, I noticed that instances were an even bigger headache. The larger pool of available players meant that it was more likely I would be grouped with bozos. This isn’t a knock on Alliance players in general, just a fact of life based on the popularity of that faction.

But, since I’ve decided to take Hynjoku through as much content as possible, that means doing as many instance runs as I can. So, typically, I log in and join the LFG channel. A few nights ago I hooked up with a group that was planning to do Scarlet Monastery Library.

The group was fairly successful considering our shaky line-up: two-handed sword wielding tank, decent hunter, DPS druid, low-level paladin, and myself. We downed Houndmaster Loksey for the Into The Scarlet Monastery quest and I won the Dog Whistle. I haven’t tried it out yet, but it sounds like it could be a lot of fun in the future.

We managed to get through the Scarlet Monastery Library and downed Arcanist Doan with no trouble. He dropped the Illusionary Rod which the druid and paladin both rolled for. I must be pretty dumb, because I leveled a paladin all the way into the 60s and don’t remember being able to use a staff any of that time.

Oh well. I grabbed The Scarlet Key and didn’t worry too much about it.

The group decided to give Scarlet Monastery Armory a go. This was much more difficult for us (we felt the need to pull constantly rather than taking our time and pulling deliberately). Still, it wasn’t the end of the world and we only wiped once. Herod went down with little trouble and dropped the Raging Berserker’s Helm. During the mad rush of Scarlet Trainees after Herod’s death, two Tabards of the Scarlet Crusade dropped. I was lucky enough to win one. Check out my victory lap!

The Shrine is a memorial to Michel Koiter, an artist for World of Warcraft and twin brother of current Blizzard artist, René Koiter. Michel passed away in March 2004 due to unexplained heart failure. A clue to the identity of the fallen hero (in addition to the huge Spirit Healer named Koiter) is the initials “MK” on the front of the shrine. When the shrine was first discovered, it was a mystery as to its origin and meaning. Now, of course, this information is common knowledge.

You can find the Shrine of the Fallen Hero on a hill top overlooking Crossroads (coordinates 47,29).

• No trainers! Ok, this isn’t 100% true. If you are an alchemist, herbalist, or mage feel free to train it up. Otherwise, you’ll be running back to Razor Hill. Which leads me to…
• Too far away! Considering that no one at this level (5 – 10) has a mount, the distance between Sen’jin Village and the rest of the continent is freaking ridiculous.
• “A Solvent Spirit” quest. This quest takes way too long considering your character is level 6 (at most) and you haven’t had any serious quests yet. Oh, and don’t forget that the Makrura mobs are mostly underwater. This go around, I had my all-time quickest completion of the quest. It only took me 12 Makruras to get the 4 Intact Makrura Eyes I needed.

One interesting note, I took on a rare mob called Warlord Kolkanis. Since all rares drop something of guaranteed better quality, I was able to secure a Lumberjack Axe and Primal Cape. Woot.