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Daily Quest: Intercepting the Mana Cells
Published on March 29, 2008 by Phaelia 
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I’m not always the most diligent at completing daily quests. Occasionally, I’ll go for stints where I complete the BEM quests for Simon Says, Bombing, and Nether Ray Wrangling for a week or so and then stop until raid repairs and consumables have eaten through most of my surpluses. Patch 2.4 introduced a whole new set of dailies for me to neglect, including some with the potential to grant Heroic Badges! One such quest is called Intercepting the Mana Cells and is given by Exarch Nasuun on the Terrace of Light in Shattrath City. Once you have the quest, you’ll have to fly up to North-central Blade’s Edge Mountains, to an area marked on your map as Bash’ir Landing. The most convenient flight point is Evergrove which is southeast of your destination (but labeled "Ruuan Weald" on your map).
Once you arrive at Bash’ir Landing, you’ll need to kill the resident monsters until one of them drops a [Bash'ir Phasing Device]. Restoration- and Balance-specced Druids should avoid the Unbound Ethereals. They’re immune to arcane damage (Moonfire and Starfire), so you’re better off killing the Ethereals whose names start with "Bash’ir." As far as I’m aware, none of them are claw or tooth immune, so kitties and bears can kill anything they want. The drop rate for the Phasing Device seems pretty high, and it shouldn’t take more than a few kills to get one.
Activate your Phasing Device, the world will go all blue and wibbly-wobbly, similar to the effect experienced by Mages when they cast Invisibility. At this point, all the Ethereal mobs will disappear, and you’ll be able to see small glowing cubes called [Smuggled Mana Cell]. The objective of this quest is to collect 10 of these cubes, but the spawn point for each is guarded by one or more Phase Wyrms. As with most collect quests of this nature, it can be very frustrating to be clearing the mob guarding a Mana Cell only to have another player come in and nab the item for himself. Luckily, I’ve discovered a foolproof technique for protecting yourself from these shenanigans! To easily and efficiently collect your 10 Mana Cells:
- Shapeshift into Flight Form.
- Fly up a little ways so that you’re outside the aggro range of the Wyrms but can still see the box spawn points.
- When you find an unclaimed Mana Cell, fly down directly on top of it. Chances are, you’ll aggro its guardian Phase Wyrm.
- Cast Cyclone on the Wyrm. As it’s casting, spin your camera so that your cursor turns into the gold activation cog over the Mana Cell.
- As soon as your Cyclone goes off, ctrl+right click on the Mana Cell (or whatever key combination you have specified for auto-loot). The Wyrm should just break free a second or two after you’ve acquired the Mana Cell.
- Kill the Wyrm and repeat. Note: Should you die while collecting, you’ll lose your Phasing Device and have to acquire a new one!
Using this technique, it’s practically impossible to be "scooped" by another player, making what might otherwise be a frustrating and odious quest (especially for Restoration Druids) a quick and easy way to acquire a bag of [Shattered Sun Supplies]! And remember, always use your powers for good, not evil; don’t take Mana Cells from other players. The QQ in the official forums has finally subsided to the merest trickle of tears. Let’s not garner any further ill will from the lesser classes!
For a more extensive write-up on the Daily Quests in 2.4, I invite you to read Part 1 of the new series that my friend Runycat from Unbearably HoT is working on!
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*hugs* .-= Softi´s last blog ..Dum di dum di dum =-.
there are several camps of the etheral mobs that drop the quest item among the crystal fields east of bashir’s landing. pick up your phasing device over there and avoid the crowd.
“Should you die …” that’s an obsolete line because resto druids NEVER DIE ^_^
This quest also puts you closer to making a portal from shattrath to the new island. That’s an even better reason for doing it.
Hope you don’t mind me linking to this in my MASSIVE QUEST GUIDE OF DOOM. I’m sort of wondering if I should split it up into parts since it’s already a few pages long. x_x
Interestingly enough, I’ve had better drop rates off the Unbound Ethereals. Either way, though, you get the phasing device quick enough.
The mana cells have a far higher respawn time then the mobs… sometimes i get 10 of the cells with only killing a few. i stay always in the same area of sight.
@Thalosar: Agree! I often get all 10 cells from the same 3-4 spawn points with near zero downtime even if someone ninjas 1-2 cells. They respawn so fast. Which is a good thing ’cause the Phasing Device effect gives me an eyestrain headache in a few minutes. My eyes hurt just thinking about it.
The area works off of dynamic spawning, so when it’s crazy — and people are most likely to steal from you — just find a safe spot without many wyrms around, and you’ll often be able to loot the same cube over and over again. My record is 6 cubes in the same spot in a single 90 second period.
Or, you could just root them
@Yakub: Oh … great tip! Thanks!
@Vulpix: Of course we don’t! But … I have heard stories of *some* Resto Druids who have died. Of course, they would have to have been AFK…
@Crythia: Lies! There is no better reason than the chance of getting a Heroic Badge!
@Runycat: TY, Runy. I’ve linked back to your great guide.
@Thalosar: I have noticed with this technique that I a second box usually spawns where the first was looted before I’m able to kill my wyrm. Pretty nice!
@NotAnIssue: The first time the phasing device activated, I found it nauseating myself. I wonder if turning off full screen glow effects or death effects would be helpful?
@Ringo: Ahhh … that’s a great tip.
@Lizard: GOOD POINT. But Cyclone is so much cooler than Root.
However, I will have to try that to see if I like it better!
I just root and insect swarm the wyrms, then loot the box and finish off the mob, works every time, and the longer duration on roots is something I find nice