Highmountain Overview and Leveling Path

By Wowhead Updated: 2017/07/17

HighmountainHighmountainQuestingLeveling Path@TemerityMystStarts:

Go West from the lower level to this farm and do all of the quests.

Go to the river bonus objective area. Spray the drogbar, kick the fish, save the tauren. When your quest sends you into the cave, after you kill a named drogbar, there is a big treasure chest if you turn around and go this way

Go South to Riverbend and do quests, the basilisks you encounter cast a stun. Escort the NPC back to Thunder Totem at the end of the questline.

Do the Spiritwalker questline here along with a few other Thunder Totem area quests. While gathering the Spiritwalker items to the North, do the crystal cave quests across the North bridge. Face away from ledges when you fight the Tectus clones, they knock back!

OPTIONAL: Go Northeast on the small mountain path to do the few quests and bonus objectives. This is the best time to squeeze this area in if you care to.

Go back to Thunder Totem and turn in the vision items and do the Huln vision quest, then take the nearby quest to gather ritual drums. Small drums drop from the mobs upstairs, while medium and large are in the environment in Thunder Totem and in the camp across the North bridge. Go turn in the drums and then take the elevator nearest to you. Talk to Spiritbinder and take his next quest.

Go South into Neltharion’s cave, again there are basilisks that cast a stun. Kill extra mobs to complete the bonus objective while you’re going through the cave, there will be a flight path at the end of the cave, so back to Thunder Totem!

OPTIONAL CHAIN: This Nesingwary chain takes some time since it’s farming lots of mobs. I consider it worth doing for the gobs of EXP you’ll earn from quests + rested. The Nesingwary camp is Northwest from Thunder Totem, across the river. You can go straight to Step 9 following the yellow arrows through the cave to the Bloodtotem Tribe if you don't care.

South exit, then come back to turn that in.
Head South out of the cave to the Skyhorn tribe. Grab the windspeaker item and put out the fires first, then take the next quests and do the bonus objective as you complete them. Once Lasan’s questline is finished up on the mountain, take his offer to fly back to Thunder Totem.
Turn in the two big end-of-storyline quests for the two tribes you completed, then go to the flightmaster and complete a short turret defense event. Yay vehicles.
OPTIONAL Fly back to Skyhorn and go East, complete the Bluewax cavern with the Kobolds.
Head South from Skyhorn towards the final quest. There are some short optional quests along the way.

Finish:RewardsQuestor's GloryLoremaster of LegionAin't No Mountain High EnoughThe Rivermane TribeThe Skyhorn TribeHuln's WarBattle of Snowblind MesaRiverbendThe Bloodtotem TribeSecrets of HighmountainWorld QuestsAchievements:

Explore Highmountain: Explore Highmountain, required for Broken Isles Explorer

Drum Circle: Participate in a drum circle at the Thunder Drum in Highmountain.

Treasures of Highmountain: Discover 40 treasures in Highmountain.

Ain't No Mountain High Enough: Complete the Highmountain storylines, required for Loremaster of Legion

Adventurer of Highmountain: Defeat a number of rare spawns/elites in Highmountain.

Highmountain Toys:

Brulfist Idol - Knocks you up into the air...violently.

Darkshard Fragment - Earned from Revered Rep.

Emerald Winds - Achievement: Hatchling of the Talon

Rocfeather Skyhorn Kite - A kite that glides you, reduces your falling speed.

Whitewater Carp - Kick a carp.

Bloodtotem War Harness - Wear two red totems on your back.

Rivermane War Harness - Wear a single blue totem on your back.

Skyhorn War Harness - Wear a totem on your back.

Highmountain Pets:

Highmountain TribeTreasure HuntingTreasure Map: HighmountainTreasures of HighmountainOrder ResourcesDrugon the FrostbloodFlotsamNeltharion's LairScreenshotsQuestsHighmountain Tribe

Blizzard

In this zone preview, we sat down with Game Designers Zachariah Owens and Ryan Shwayder and Senior Level Designer Matt Sanders to learn more about Highmountain and what you’ll experience there. The location of one of the largest mountains in Azeroth, Highmountain is a rugged and beautiful place. Here, three tribes of Highmountain tauren are locked in a bitter struggle against the savage drogbar that threaten their lands.

Highmountain Journey Composed by Glenn StaffordQ. How would you describe the zone’s ambience? What’s it like?Matt: The inspiration for Highmountain is a mix of Yosemite, the Swiss Alps, and Everest. We wanted to give players the sense that is the highest mountain, the tallest peak, in the game. We wanted to make parts of it seem almost uninhabitable, with glacial terrain and the kind of treacherous conditions you’d expect to find at such incredible heights. Because it’s the highest peak in World of Warcraft, so far at least, we wanted to give players a sense of progression within the harsh environment that the tauren and the drogbar have been living in. We wanted to acknowledge altitude, proximity to the ocean, exposure to the sun and shade, and what season it is. Currently it’s spring, so the climate is mild to temperate. Crops are growing, and plenty of food and other resources are readily available. But imagine how cold it would be in the winter. It would be brutal, and most visitors probably wouldn’t survive through the season. So there is always a huge effort to stock up on supplies and protect them from would-be invaders. Ryan: If you’re familiar with the War of the Ancients, you might recognize the namesake of the zone—Huln Highmountain, a renowned tauren who helped defeat Tichondrius many years ago. After receiving the Blessing of Cenarius, the tauren here have changed—they have moose horns instead of normal tauren horns, among other things—and we think players will enjoy getting to see a unique take on one of the game’s most familiar races.

Matt: Long, long ago, Highmountain used to be the home of the Black Dragonflight. We didn’t want to dig too deep into that for Legion, but there is definitely some interesting history in Highmountain that we can continue to expand on.Because the waters of Highmountain flow into Suramar, Stormheim, and Val’sharah, the area also serves as the lifeblood of virtually every region on the continent. There’s a lot riding on the taurens’ ability to maintain balance in the zone. As part of that, the Rivermane tauren established a fragile peace pact between the Highmountain tauren and the drogbar as a means to survive in relative peace. As part of this agreement, they mutually benefit from one another’s resources through trade at designated areas outside drogbar caves.Drogbar dwell in the infinite caverns deep within Highmountain, serving as overlords of the zone’s “underworld,” if you will. They provide spell components from inedible plants, rare minerals, gems, and other rarities as a trade offering to the tauren. In return, the tauren bring the drogbar grain, fish, leather goods, and lumber. They make a mutual exchange at these ritual sites, then go back to their respective homelands. It’s a symbiotic relationship—they don’t like each other, but they needed each other. We tried to subtly establish that throughout the zone.Then there are the harpies and kobolds. The tauren used to keep the harpies at bay with the Hammer of Khaz’goroth—until it was stolen by the drogbar. Now, the harpies have been emboldened. The kobolds offer stolen and scavenged trinkets, oftentimes items that would be broken and worthless to anyone else, and the harpies provide protection for their offerings of obedience. The kobold are very prolific and have now become a noticeable nuisance. It is said, “For every kobold you see, there are a hundred more.”Ryan: The Hammer of Khaz’goroth has always been the tie that binds in Highmountain , and as soon as that was taken by the drogbar, each tauren tribe suddenly had their own priorities to deal with. The Skyhorn have to deal with the harpies, while the Bloodtotem warriors—who’ve always been the jerks of the bunch—no longer want anything to do with the rest of the tribes. Meanwhile, the fishermen and farmers of Rivermane have to deal most directly with the drogbar, which isn’t really in their nature.Matt: Yeah, the Rivermane have always been the diplomatic, reassuring caretakers. The Rivermane just care about the agriculture and their shamanistic ways. They’re very peaceful, and you’d never see them getting into boxing matches or big fights like the Bloodtotem.The Skyhorn are essentially the wise masters of the skies. They can get to places no other tauren can because of their relationship with the eagles in the area, and help players navigate all the way to the peak.Because of that, the Skyhorn are also the tribe that’s sort of “running the show.” But that’s caused some tension with the Bloodtotem—the first chieftain of all the Highmountain tribes was a Bloodtotem, and they’ve long felt that they’d make the best leaders because they’re the strongest. That’s made them more reclusive, and unwelcoming to outsiders. They also have a predatory side—you’ll walk into their area and they’ll be watching you, but you’ll never know it.Zachariah: That’s where you get all of your Feral and Guardian Druids—the savage bear forms. They were the warriors of the tribes, the enforcers.Matt: They’re kind of a mix between the personalities of the trolls and orcs. The trolls have a very rich and mysterious culture, but it’s one that outsiders can never truly know. The orcs are very savage. If you are not as strong as a Bloodtotem, they’ll probably kill you because they can’t stand you. And if you are stronger than they are, they’ll try to kill you because they want to prove themselves. So the challenge comes in finding a way to make them think you’re useful. For example, the Rivermane provide them with food, since there’s no longer enough to hunt because they killed everything off. But you still know the Bloodtotem are looking down at them thinking, “pathetic little Rivermane.”Zachariah: All of the tribes had a very strong dependent, symbiotic relationship with each other. They also had a symbiotic relationship with the drogbar that ran deeper than either side would wish to acknowledge. They all kind of required each other, so when a wedge gets driven between them all, it essentially becomes chaos.

Q. Which locations would you say are some of your favorites, and why?Zachariah: Highmountain Peak. Just the hike up to the peak is such an amazing experience. You can just see the diversity of the ecosystems there. And there are just some places that are so harsh, places where nothing really lives, that make you feel like an explorer.Matt: You feel like you’ve climbed Everest. You’re able to look down upon Suramar, which is beneath two completely separate layers of clouds—sort of like what you see when you’re climbing or descending in a plane. That helps further establish the feeling that this is a place where no one—certainly no outsiders—could naturally survive. So when you see those huge, isolated outposts up there in the freezing cold, you know how challenging that outpost must be to maintain.One of my favorite aspects of Highmountain is its cavernous nature—it’s not just a solid piece of rock. It’s riddled with networks of tunnels, with steam and warmth radiating from its caves, implying potential volcanic activity without showing lava.If you go through Neltharion’s Vault and start navigating the passageways between the mountains along the main road, you realize how deep things go, giving you a sense that you could keep going down and down and down until you reach the coast—or just get completely lost. But my favorite specific place is a cave where you emerge from a tunnel and see all these drogbar bridges that keep going into the depths. If you look down, you think, “Wow, there’s a whole world within this mountain that is left up to the imagination.”Ryan: My favorite place is the beaver dam in Pinerock Basin where the rapids give way to calmer waters. The river cascades its way down toward the farms, Thunder Totem is behind you, and you're surrounded by beauty in all directions.

Zachariah: The zone is full of little surprises here and there. We try to reward exploration in all our zones. If something looks like it’s a trail that might lead off somewhere interesting, chances are it does. You will keep finding new places, treasures, and events as you explore.Q. Why do you think a player would want to start in this zone first?Matt: Tauren are awesome. So are kobolds. Other than that, I’m torn. In one way, it’s fun to do Highmountain last, and eventually be able to look down upon other zones you have explored. On the other hand, you could always take the Demon Hunter gliding into Suramar or fly into Stormheim, and have a cool sense of scale based on where you just came from. From the height of the mountain, the possibilities seem endless—“OK, I’ve conquered the mountain, now what am I going to do?”Either way, we wanted the ground path between Highmountain and Val’sharah to be awesome. Same with going to and from Stormheim. We wanted players to feel just as rewarded by just traversing the land the “classic” way, walking or running on their mount. There are a lot of World of Warcraft players out there who love to explore this way, and we tried to provide them with plenty of those opportunities.

Q. What is it that will bring them back to this zone?Matt: Unlike some of the other mountains in World of Warcraft, if you go mountain climbing here, you’ll find that it’s filled with playable space and tons of stuff to discover. You’ll stumble upon a vignette here or some kind of a camp there, or a story—we really wanted to reward exploration.Ryan: Sometimes it’s just finding somewhere that you’re going to decide is your favorite place—maybe just an awesome view. There might not be anything there, but it could be like, “This is where we’re going to hang out. Me and my wife really want to chill here all the time.”Q. Is there anything else players should know about this zone?Zachariah: I would say this is the “explorer’s” zone. This is the zone you go to when you just want to happen upon things, go on a spontaneous journey up a path, or wander down to the coast. Every nook and cranny has something.Ryan: There’s a lot of cultural exploration, too. The tauren here are familiar, but different. The drogbar are completely new.Matt: And everything is interrelated. The harpies are in some way related to the Skyhorn. The drogbar have a relationship with the Rivermane.Ryan: It’s like an ecosystem.Matt: Even the murlocs on the coast—the kobolds would bring these trinkets to the harpies in return for their protection. A lot of these trinkets would fall down the side of the mountain and land on the coastline where the murlocs would find them.Ryan: “Mglrmglmglmgl!” Translation: “The murloc gods have blessed us.”

Zachariah: Just another note for when you’re in Thunder Totem: leave the music and sound on, especially when playing through the first time. There are a lot of sound treats in general, and a lot of great voiceover in the right places to get the stories across.Matt: There are so many subtle details, and we really wanted to show a visual progression based on an awareness of the geography. We have different types of erosion because of the harsh climate. We considered details based on whether an area is shaded, whether snow would be melted in a particular location, or whether you’d encounter more plant life in an area. There are some cool and rewarding reveals, like a cave where you’ll come upon a spot with a marine layer and full sun. Little spots where plants grow and proliferate.Ryan: Highmountain is really about exploration and discovery. We never direct you to most of the stuff that’s in the zone—but if you keep your eyes open, there’s plenty to see.

Comments

Comment by deerling

Highmountain is definitely where I'm going first! The moose tauren are so sick.

Comment by mywowhead

I got a Critter Hand Cannon Toy from Icepine Point. (didnt see it on your list)

Comment by Robotusch

Regarding the levelling path, I personally delay doing the bonus objective and single quest in point 5, until I'm doing the group quests from Nesingwary. You're in the area for two of the quest mobs at that point anyway.

Comment by Seif

Just one note to add this, a missing toy.

There is a special encounter involving the Majestic Elderhorn. He drops a toy called the Majestic Elderhorn Hoof, which grants a 30% mounted speed bonus whilst in HighMountain.

Comment by becothegreat

epic zone i enjoyed alot :)

Comment by Zakerum7

I came here trying to find the quest chain to the Neltharion's Lair quest. I don't see it listed here at all. Do you not recommend doing the quest while leveling up ?

edit: so apparently "Finish: Talk to Mayla, start the final quest line and finish Highmountain! Don’t forget the Extra Action Button while you’re fighting the big worms." is the quest to Neltharion's lair. Just extremely vague and poorly worded. also tons of information left out in the final series of quests. Hope this helps others out !

Comment by 1489048

After leveling two 100s (i have twelve more on their way) up to 110, I can honestly say that it's too bad that the entire game didn't apply to this, or at least after 60. (That way a player still has to experience the "classic wow" experience somewhat).

Comment by KryzM

This is an excellent guide! however, is NOT complete, so HOLD ON, ABSOLUTE COMPLETIONISTST OUT THERE! there is a breadcrumb quest only available after helping one of the two remaining Tauren tribes to Hemet's camp. If you follow this guide, you will miss it!.

Credit to Wyr3d on An Offering of Ammo:

So basically to maximise your quest potential, complete the Bloodtoem questlines, then take: "An Offering of Ammo", to get to Hemet's camp, and do the quests there to get "Procuring a Prototype."

Comment by 1390413

Is there something special you have to do to get the bonus objectives? They don't appear on my map and objectives don't appear when I enter the area.

Comment by Chase2205

My problem was just starting the questline. After not playing for several years, my goal was to start a character with a new race, specifically the Highmountain Tauren. I upgraded to Battle of Azeroth and spent a day trying to figure out how to start the quest chain to get rep with the Hightotem. It was not easy. This is what I did. If there's an easier way, I couldn't find it.
- Upgrade to Battle of Azeroth
- Use the free leveling that comes with the upgrade to move a character to level 110. It's right next to your character list after you log in.
- Go through the starting quests of the Battle of Azeroth until the Undercity is destroyed. (oh, spoiler alert)
- Then you need to get to Dalaran. There is a portal in Org in the chamber at the entrance to Org (the one coming from Durotar). It's located within the ramparts, before you enter the city main. But the portal doesn't say "Dalaran". Instead you need to take the portal to Azsuna, and from there, you'll have the flight path to Dalaran.
- Next, you have to do the quest chain until Dalaran is moved into the Broken Isles between Azsuna and the Broken Shore. It's not that long of a quest chain, but you have to get to the Dalaran Crater that's in Hillsbrad Foothills. There apparently used to be a portal, but it's not there, and, anyway I couldn't see any of the portals in the portal room in Dalaran even though I knew they are there because I see other toons using them. Oh well.
- Ported to Undercity (I'm a mage. If you aren't, I honestly don't know what to do). By the way, while in Dalaran, buy all the teleports available.
Now unfortunately, Undercity isn't there anymore because it was destroyed in the Battle of Azeroth. That's okay, you port to the burnt rubble that used to be Undercity and from there, it's an easy flight to the Dalaran Crater (you do have a flying mount, right?)
- After finishing that quest chain, go back to Dalaran (if you're not there already) and you will have the flight path to all the sections of Broken Isles. For me, I wanted Highmountain, so flew to Thunder Totem. But, there were no quests available except "The Magic of Flight", which I found impossible. And that's not the start of the chain anyway.
- Looking at the map, I see there should be a quest available in Riverbend, Southwest of Thunder Totem. I walked without too much problem. Still no quest.
- But, there is a quest available called Keepers of the Hammer. It just didn't show me the ! above the questgiver's head. The questgiver was Warbrave Oro, and I clicked on him to find the quest.
- Fly back to Thunder Totem to turn in the quest. That started the chain for Highmountain Tribe reputation.

Sorry if there are errors in this. If you're not a mage (which by probability you're not), you can still use the portal room in Org, but getting from Dalaran to Hillsbrad might be a lot more difficult. Good luck everyone.

Highmountain Overview and Leveling Path

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