Warnings
Firstly, these quests may be hazardous to your mental stability and probably should not be attempted by pregnant women, women who might become pregnant, children or those sensitive or suffering allergic reactions to frustration. You have been warned! (Midi addition: Also please note that this is not a pretty cute unicorn - this is an ugly goat horse with no pupils!! But it's fast!
Secondly, at this point it's just a guess as for levels. I started at 26 as a druid, so I've been able to solo all but a single mob required of me so far. You could definitely start earlier, but you would want to have a dedicated group, perhaps from the guild!, to help you out.
This quest is a huge timesink, whether you're doing it solo or with a group. In some places it's advantages to have one or the other, since the quests seem to alternate between kill, travel and collect. In other words, the full range of MMO questy goodness! I'd find someone with SoW, and maybe even a boat, as you're gonna be doing a *lot* of traveling!
Finally... have fun! You're gonna spend a lotta time doin' this, so get some fun peoples to help you and go all crazy in /g, or /gu if you're feeling particularly feisty! Don't stress too much if some group of 40s-50s starts ganking the spawns where you're at. Every time I asked them nicely if they could please leave some for me, as I was both on the quest and still getting exp, the peoples were polite and acquiesent. Your milage may vary.
The Beginning!
To start this huge line of quests you need a rather self-explanitory drop: A unicorn horn. They drop off of the Zarian cultists on the island in the center of Silverlake. Silverlake is in Thestra and is marked on your physical map. It's to the East of the ruins of Trengal Keep, to the North-West of Veskal's Exchange and to the West of Hilsbury Manor. If you can't find any of these places either, you probably need to do a bit more exploring on Thestra! Break out of your shell! Wander a little!
The mobs it drops off of are, I believe, 3 dot lv 21-22 humanoids. There are a few casters and a few melee types on the island, and there're quite a few total mobs, probably somewhere in the range of 20 spawns on the island. They cannot swim, meaning ranged characters, and particularly casters, can do rather well here. The drop is called 'Unicorn Horn', I believe, but I may be wrong. At least it's fairly obvious when you get it, as it tells you to right-click the item for your first actual quest in the line. I got it in about 80 or so kills, but I've heard others say it took them anywhere from 20 to over 200. Good luck!
First Quest!
You found a unicorn horn on the Zar cultists, which is horrible and evil and stuff. Since you were in the area already, maybe you should just knock off their leader, Mr. Zar, eh? He's the kinda guy who hates flowers, by which I mean he runs angrily towards bundles of them. I bet he stomps kitties, too. The flowers are all around the island, and other places with Zar nearby, including a few small camps to the east and (I believe) west of the island, and come in three varieties. You'll need to gather:
- 30 Violet Flowers
- 30 Red Flowers
- 40 Yellow Flowers
The flowers are tagged quest, and if you're doing this with a group, note that there's not count in your personal quest log for gathering the flowers. Only one person needs to get them, so you can just figure out who wants to give ol' Zar the present and designate them flower picker. I recommend choosing the necromancer or dreadknight. Also, you should probably make fun of them for choosing this quest over the Shadowhound one! ^.^
The flowers respawn in something like 5 or so mins, so you should soon have all of them you need. Clear out the area around the altar on the island, have whoever got stuck with the chore slap down a big bundle 'o flowers on Zars nifty little table thing (of power!) and get ready for... a pretty easy fight! I did this with no problem whatsoever, with a 26 druid (me), 22 dreadknight and 26 warrior. He's a 4 dot lv 22-23 caster, but as long as you've got a meat shield you should be alright.
Just take the wand off the dead leader of the Zar, named Zar, of course!, and wander on northerly to find yourself your first talkable Unicorn, by the name of... I've forgotten. He's kinda a jerk. In my opinion, all unicorns are jerks, but they're just over-compensating for the fact that everyone except you seems to be trying to kill them, and take their horns, and possibly even tame them, crazy people!
Quest Two!
Now you are sent to Qalia, to a unicorn in a small camp (Shadow's End) that also contains a dark elf with a troubled past and a Shadowhound who is somehow involved with the other mount quest. The place is kinda South-East of Lomshir, or North of Hathor Zi, both of which are West of Khal, which you should know, because Qalia is, in my humble opinion, only a little bit shy of being required exploring!
Here you need to find yourself some Dark Elves to kill. They're exploiting the unicorns, and are Aeokor, so the weak stupid dark elves that actually gain you faction with the real ones from Hathor Zi with every kill, which matters to you only because you need to:
- Kill 45 Aoekor who exploit unicorns (Midi note: SLOOOW respawns on the camp, over 5 minutes, it's made for someone that level to clear it, so if you're higher lvl and can explode them, would highly recommend being kind and inviting anyone else trying to get the updates for your own sanity. Would also note that this is the point in which you start getting sent to the far corners of the earth, then have to come back to Shadow's End again... and again... recommend binding in Lomshir if you plan to do this all in a short period of time
Well, I'm gonna try to log on and actually play the game for a while, will update this further soon! 'till then, send Padori a mail if you need any help with the quest! =) (Note! Midi taking the wiki wheel at this point!)
Next part of the quest sends you to Skrillen Point to kill 3 witchdoctors. Take the Upper Defense Garrison portal from Khal to put you right by the map note. There are two camps around the mappoint for the quest, you need to kill regular lizards to get the three drops for the 'finder' needed for the quest. Mobs here are around lvl 24, but are in groups of 3's often. I killed both camps probably twice, and got all 3 drops from witchdoctors.
Testing the Finder: After turning the quest back in, you're sent to Jalen's Retreat to find a unicorn. This is not hard, but would be best if you had a boat, or someone to bring ya up. Quickest way is taking the Strandan portal, then taking a boat out to the islands to the NW. The quest marks the unicorn's location. No mobs on the island itself. However a difficult swim I think at lower lvls. After you get the update you'll return to Shadow's End... again!
Unicorns of Kojan: You are sent to Kojan now to get 2 more "chat with this unicorn" updates. The two unicorns are near Ceros Isle in the chain of islands. It's south of Martok and north of Tanvu. Both mobs are noted with map points. Would highly recommend getting lev or someone with a boat for this part. No mobs on the islands themselves, after the update you again are sent back to Shadow's End
Extraordinary Response: You are now sent to visit a named unicorn that lives near the Strand of the Ancients Riftway (again mapnoted to find it easily). Basically she blabs on, then sends you to kill 55 of the lizards in Ssre'vessk - you need to kill the ones that are around the Pantheon of the Ancients to get the updates.