Azuarc's leveling guide for Alliance, Act 7: Stranglethorn Vale, Part 1 (levels 33-35)
Stranglethorn Vale is a massive, massive zone. There's only one other zone before Outland that compares, and that's in Horde territory. The jungles of STV are vast, and contain loads of quests.
In addition to its size, there are three other items worth remarking on in the zone. The first is PvP. If you play on a PvP server, this zone is sheer hell. See recommended alternatives if you get fed up – those zones will still be bad, it just comes with the level range, but they won't be as bad.
Second, because this zone is so big, you need to ask yourself if you're actually done for the day, and if you are not, don't hearth back to Booty Bay. Your other two quest hubs are at the far north end of the zone, and there is at least a repair vendor up there, so if you come well-supplied, you should only need to return to town when the guide indicates that you need to. Unfortunately, unlike the Horde, your northern quest areas do not have an inn.
The final item is that any time you kill a humanoid mob, you might get a page from the Green Hills of Stranglethorn. These are part of a massive quest to collect 15 pages that were blown out of a journal of an adventurer at the Nesingwary Expedition. When these quests were originally implemented, they were great experience, and had an awesome reward. By comparison, they're trash now. Don't obsess with the Green Hills of Stranglethorn – you can either vendor your pages or sell them to other players for around 10 silver. It's not worth the hassle of maintaining bag space for them, though.
That's your map to an incredibly huge zone. You may very well want to right-click and print it out this time for reference. Most of our time in this section of the guide will be spent in the northern areas where the low-level quests are. Creatures in this zone range from level 30 to 44, not counting Jaguero Isle or Zul'Gurub. You'll be running past the tougher guys at the southern end of the zone frequently.
Recommended Alternatives
So maybe you don't want to fight the masses. Quite understandable. There are some decent quests out of Southshore, most of which go into Alterac Mountains. If you decide to go this route, having saved the turtle meat from Thousand Needles will pay off since it's basically free experience. Try to take a Hillman's Cloak with you if you go that route. Next door to Hilsbrad is Arathi Highlands. The Refuge Point has several quests for the area, plus a few loose questgivers elsewhere. Your only other real option at this level is Desolace, and we'll be visiting there in the next act, so I'd advise waiting on that since there isn't much to do in Desolace.
Scene 0: Getting Started (level 32/33)
Grab all the quests in Booty Bay. Look around carefully. The easiest quest to miss is the one you will be doing first, in the Tan-Your-Hide Leatherworks shop, Supply and Demand. Then head out the tunnel and follow the long road north. Watch out for apes, and zombies near the arena, and later more apes.
In fact, take the road ALL the way north. Some would argue it's faster to fly to Darkshire and run from there. At the northern extreme to the zone, past the second river crossing, the road will fork at a T with the main path going right. That would take you into Duskwood. Go left instead, and enter the Rebel Camp. There should be three quests here. Then turn around and run back down the road, cross the bridge over the river, and immediately turn right and follow the southern river bank west to Nesingwary's Expedition.
The "hunter camp", as I will refer to it, has a ton of quests. At first, you'll need to grab the lone quest there to talk to the head of the camp. At that point, Hemet and his two lackeys will give you the beginnings of the "mastery" quests – each is a hunting quest to kill 10 of some type of creature. After that, you'll kill 10 of a bigger version of that type, an even stronger version, and finally a boss. The only other quest you'll find here is The Green Hills of Stranglethorn, which I am advising you don't even accept. It's just wasted space in your quest log.
All of the scenes in the near future are going to start from the hunter camp, so keep that in mind when using your hearthstone.
Quests you should have from Booty Bay:
Supplies to Private Thorsen (top floor of inn)
Supply and Demand (leather shop on third tier of town)
Investigate the Camp (top floor of inn)
Bloodscalp Ears (top floor of inn)
Singing Blue Shards (first floor of inn)
The Stone of the Tides (follow-up to The Haunted Isle, top floor of inn)
…and there are a couple others you won't need any time soon, like The Captain's Chest.
Quests you should have from the two camps:
The Second Rebellion
Bad Medicine
Krazek's Cookery
Tiger Mastery
Panther Mastery
Raptor Mastery
Scene 1: The River (level 33)
This will be surprisingly short compared to everything else you do in Stranglethorn. Along the river by the hunter camp, you will find River Crocolisks that have the skins you need for Supply and Demand. Away from the river, all around the hunter camp, are the Young Stranglethorn Tigers (or as I like to call them, baby tigers.)
Get your 10 kills, get your 2 skins, and go back to the hunter camp. Use the vendor while there.
Quests completed: Tiger Mastery 1, Supply and Demand
Scene 2: Jungle Commandoes (level 33)
Go east up to the road, cross the river north, and then go east again. In the immediate area, you should find the baby panthers. Work your way further east and you'll see the standard Stranglethorn Tigers for the second mastery. Get your kills of each, and then head north from the tiger area.
The Kurzen Compound is filled with Jungle Fighters and Medicine Men. Be careful where you step in this place. If you end up fighting two Medicine Men at once, you might be good as dead, since they hit about as hard as the Jungle Fighters, and heal themselves constantly. However, you have two quests that require that you kill 15 fighters and collect 7 jungle remedies from the medicine men. Stay away from the stable area (with the cage next to it,) the fallen tower, and especially the cave in the back. Also, be very cautious around any of the other buildings as you're likely to get a bunch of guys attacking you as soon as you pop your head around the corner. You will need a fern extract that can be found in the boxes in front of the two-story building at some point.
One other thing I recommend doing while getting these kills is heading up the slopes to the east of the compound. There are several basilisks in this area that are needed for Singing Blue Shards. Mind you, there ARE other basilisks in the zone, but they are no easier to kill than these guys…which are level 34/35, and stun you for 8 seconds at a time. There are 7 or 8 spawns up above the compound, so you might consider making a pass at them initially, fighting some Kurzen guys in the compound, coming back later, and then making a third pass when you are finished. You do not –have– to do this now, but it will make life easier since the other easy spot to get basilisks is usually heavily farmed.
When you are finished all this, return to the rebel camp, and then the hunter camp.
Quests completed: Panther Mastery 1, Tiger Mastery 2, The Second Rebellion, Bad Medicine
Scene 3: Beasts and Bloodscalps (level 33/34)
Go west out of the hunter camp to the end of the river. You should notice a slope leading up onto the plateau above you. In that area, you will find some of the normal Panthers, as well as a few normal Tigers, and here and there you will also see some Bloodscalp trolls. You will also see a troll city at the Ruins of Zul'Kunda that you should probably avoid entering for now, but feel free to kill any trolls you encounter that you can handle. (Here or elsewhere. The drop rate on the ears is pretty low.)
Get your 10 panther kills as you make your way south. Stay on this ridge rather than hopping down. If you follow it south and then west, you should see the baby raptors. Out of the three masteries, the raptors are the toughest of the bunch, and the easy raptors are probably as hard as the second type of tiger or panther.
After getting the kills you need for the raptors from their nest, go east and drop down off the ridge. In this general area you will find Elder Stranglethorn Tigers. They're level 35, but they really aren't all that bad. Kill 10 of them, and then go west past the Bal'lal Ruins to the coast. Kill whatever trolls you want along the way.
Follow the beach north and you should see mostly crocolisks, but at some point there will be one or two basilisks assuming they aren't dead. This is your hint that there is a cluster of basilisks on a ridge up above you. If you haven't gotten all of your Singing Blue Shards, now might be the time to do that.
The last thing to do is look at your map and notice the large island off the coast. Swim to that. There will be level 37 water elementals all over the island. You do not need to kill any of them. Simply walk toward the center of the island until you get a message saying that you have explored the haunted isle.
At this point, you can hearth back to Booty Bay.
Quests completed: Panther Mastery 2, Raptor Mastery 1, Tiger Mastery 3, Singing Blue Shards, The Haunted Isle
Scene 4: More Beasts and Bloodscalps (level 34)
After finishing your business in Booty Bay, take the long hike back to the hunter camp and turn in your quests there. At that point, go south and a little west. Hunt trolls as you go, but your primary target is on a mesa west of the Tkashi Ruins, and northeast of Bal'lal, surrounded by the elder tigers. On this small hill lies Sin'dall, the boss tiger. Unlike the other two bosses, she's really a pushover, perhaps as easy as the elder tigers.
After dispatching with Sin'dall, go south past Bal'lal to where the Lashtail Raptors roam. You need 10 of those.
Do a little killing of the trolls at Bal'lal. (Heck, get the troll legend there if you think you can.) And then fight your way back north to the hunter camp. Ideally you want to finish your 15 bloodscalp ears at this point.
Quests completed: Tiger Mastery 4, Raptor Mastery 2, Bloodscalp Ears
Scene 5: Goblin-Infested Waters (level 34/35)
Go east, following the river, to Lake Nazferiti. When you actually reach the lake, the river crocolisks will turn into snapjaw crocolisks, which are needed for Some Assembly Required. Loop the lake until you get those kills…or do it at the end of the scene if someone else is killing them.
On the east side of the lake is Venture Co. Base Camp. This area is dangerous. Take your time here. Your first objective is to climb the drilling rig in the lake. These goblins like to use ranged attacks, and they like to run, so fighting a single target is often extremely difficult. If you work your way up the platform to the second level, there will be a room at the top. Inside it is Foreman Cozzle, who has a key you need. So kill him.
Once you've finished your misadventures on the oil rig, get back to land and enter the small house next to the lumber mill. There should be nothing there but one locked chest, which you conveniently just picked up the key to. Crack it open, and then wander around the Venture Co. lands looking for geologists to kill. They blend in with the surroundings, so be cautious. The last thing you need is two or three geologists nuking you at once.
At this point, enough is enough. Hearth back to Booty Bay and take a break.
Quests completed: Some Assembly Required, Goblin Sponsorship (Thousand Needles), Hostile Takeover
Scene 6: Swamp Dust (level 35)
Fly to Darkshire. Your next and final trip for this act is not in Stranglethorn itself. From Darkshire, run east out of the zone. The road there goes into a nasty area called Deadwind Pass. Fortunately none of the nasty stuff is along the road, so just stay on the path and you will find yourself in the Swamp of Sorrows.
There isn't much to the Swamp of Sorrows for Alliance. The three or four quests are spread out and pretty meaningless, so we aren't here to do much. The only thing we do want to do is near the zone entrance. As you come into the zone, the road will bend north and then east as you approach Splinterspear Junction. We want to be in the area south of this (which would have been east over the cliff when you first entered.) This area, known as Itharius's Cave, is filled with green whelplings. They like to spit green gook at you rather than run at you, so treat them like you would any other spellcaster. Also, be wary of the paths these guys take, as none of them are stationary and they will often fly past each other. There are two Swamp Jaguars around this pond as well, and if you see one of those, pull it away and kill it first. You don't want to deal with one of those along with the whelps. (Or two whelps at once, for that matter.) The drop rate on dust isn't great, but get this quest done.
At this point, you *could* hearth back. However, while we've taken a trip to the middle of nowhere, let's visit the end of nowhere. Go back to the road and follow it east. Take the southern fork, and avoid the Horde guards. Before you reach the Horde town of Stonard, you should find a path leading south out of the zone into Blasted Lands. We have no business whatsoever being in Blasted Lands at this level, but go left (east) as soon as you enter the zone and follow the zone wall to Nethergarde Keep. There are two barracks and a tower in Nethergarde. The flight master is on a platform behind the barracks on the right.
Now hearth or fly back to Booty Bay.
Quests completed: Dream Dust in the Swamp
Flight points acquired: Nethergarde Keep (Blasted Lands)
It only gets worse from here
…which is why we're leaving. You could certainly stay in Stranglethorn and slug it out, but I don't recommend it. Instead we're going to go to another zone. We have several choices: we could go to Alterac Mountains, we could go to the Arathi Highlands, or we could go to Desolace. It might not be the popular choice, but I'm going to go with Desolace. The main reason Desolace is not popular is because it is far-removed from everything else, but hey, we've got the flight point already! (It's also gray and bleak, and spread out, so you're welcome to go somewhere else for two levels.)
Stop off at Ironforge along the way. We have a quest we'll want to grab before heading to Nijel's Point.
