In Outland, Honor Hold and Thrallmar both battle for control of strategic objectives in Zangarmarsh. By wresting control of the Twin Spire Ruins from the opposing faction in Zangarmarsh, you can get access to nice rewards. You can find the Honor Hold and Thrallmar turn in NPCs along the road near Telredor and Zabra’jin for the Alliance and Horde respectively.

Lower City is located on the underside of Shattrath in Terokkar Forest. Populated by the refugees from the many wars that have wracked Outland, it is home to a diverse array of beings who owe allegiance to no group. Adventurers can gain reputation by doing quests located in Lower City itself, as well as aiding citizens of Lower City in other places, such as the Refugee Caravan in the Bone Wastes.

War is brewing in the distant lands of Silithus. All over the world, men and women are gearing up for one final push into the heart of the Qiraji empire to end the threat which has been lying in wait, barely contained behind the barrier erected by the Night Elven druids and the mighty dragon Anachronos during the climactic battle at the end of the War of the Shifting Sands. Ever since that fateful day, the members of the Cenarion Circle have kept a close watch on the wastes from their base at Cenarion Hold at the center of northern Silithus. There, the Night Elven and Tauren disciples of the magnificent demigod Cenarius have been waiting for the time when a hero would step forward to unleash the might of all the mortal races against the sinister Qiraji and their innumerable legions of Silithid minions. But the druids have not been idle during their long watch; they have crafted formidable weapons, armors and enchanted ornaments to assist all those who will brave the terrors of Ahn’Qiraj. Adventurers who have proven their worth in battle against the Qiraji forces beyond the Scarab Wall will be granted access to the ancient order’s arsenal.
At last, the long watch has ended - the hero has risen, to mend that which was broken, to unite those who were divided. But the true test is yet to come. When the gates of Ahn’Qiraj open, will the mortal races stand united once again and face the onrushing terror. or will they fade silently into the darkness that has risen once again in the distant lands of Silithus?

Some say that it is always darkest just before the dawn. Whenever darkness falls, the light of hope will drive away the shadows; wherever the forces of evil work in secret, the brave men and women of the Argent Dawn will be there to thwart their dark designs. The Argent Dawn is an organization that makes no distinction between Alliance or Horde, but instead tries to unite the people of Azeroth in the fight against evil. Though the agents of the Argent Dawn are always wary of the sinister and the wicked in all their various disguises, they have recently focused their efforts on a region of Azeroth where evil has run unchecked for a long time: the Plaguelands of Lordaeron. Detachments of the Argent Dawn are guarding the entrances to the Plaguelands at the Bulwark between the Tirisfal Glades and the Western Plaguelands, and at Chillwind Point, a narrow pass leading south from the Western Plaguelands to the Alterac Mountains. They have also gained a foothold deep in the Eastern Plaguelands at the Light’s Hope Chapel, east of Corin’s Crossing.
The Argent Dawn is always looking for more fighters to join their cause, and the numbers of those wearing the Argent Dawn Commission, the organization’s insignia, are growing each day. Adventurers seeking to aid the Argent Dawn by rooting out the Scourge’s corruption in the Plaguelands and taking on the Lich King’s powerful servants in the Scholomance and Stratholme will be well rewarded; the organization has many powerful enchanters among their ranks who craft special enhancements that provide the wearer with added protection against all forms of magic attacks. The Argent Dawn also offers those who have proven their dedication to their cause insight into their craftsmen’s designs, enabling these adventurers to craft the armors the Argent Dawn created in their ongoing campaign against evil.

Long ago, before the First War, the warlock Gul’dan exiled a clan of orcs called the Frostwolves to a hidden valley deep in the heart of the Alterac Mountains. It is here in the valley’s southern reaches that the Frostwolves eked out a living until the coming of Thrall.
After Thrall’s triumphant uniting of the clans, the Frostwolves, now led by the Orc Shaman Drek’Thar, chose to remain in the valley they had for so long called their home. In recent times, however, the relative peace of the Frostwolves has been challenged by the arrival of the Dwarven Stormpike Expedition.
The Stormpikes have set up residence in the valley to search for natural resources and ancient relics. Despite their intentions, the Dwarven presence has sparked heated conflict with the Frostwolf Orcs to the south, who have vowed to drive the interlopers from their lands.

Style: Destroy the enemy towers on your path to defeating the enemy NPC general
Location: Eastern Kingdoms (Alterac/Hillsbrad Foothills)
Limits: Level 51-70 players (level range breakup: 51-60, 61-70)
Maximum players per team: 40 Horde/40 Alliance
Minimum players per team: 20 Horde/20 Alliance
Win Conditions: Kill the enemy’s General

15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes – from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you’d like to hear more about.

Let’s jump right in – because appropriately enough, that’s the modus operandi of this week’s profile subject, blogger/cartoonist/gag writer/self-proclaimed “older” player/sci-fi writer John Zakour. With a WoW column at Pink Raygun, a daily web comic with some 50,000 readers, a 2180-rated Mage and a steady stream of published sci-fi books, Zakour keeps the one-liners flowing.

A recent review of Zakour’s The Flaxen Femme Fatale does a neat job of summarizing his outlook: “I’m always glad to see new books in this series come out, as there’s a serious deficit of comedic hardboiled science fiction adventures on the market, and John Zakour has filled that niche quite adeptly,” wrote the SF Site reviewer. “It’s goofy, it’s quirky, it’s iconic in its own way, and it’s way too much fun. Like the rest, The Flaxen Femme Fatale borders on parody, but maintains enough good-natured charm to maintain an air of legitimacy. It may be a world full of robots, psychics, aliens, genetically-engineered superhumans, and wacky technology, where anything is possible, but it has the internal consistency and earnestness required to sustain such a setting.”

How does he manage to stick it all together, with time left over for WoW?
Main character Zapperz (”Yes, very original name.”)
Guild Time Well Wasted (”a very patient guild”)
Server Rexxar-US

15 Minutes of Fame: Gaming, writing, sci fi — where did it all begin? How did you end up twining it all together professionally?
John Zakour: Quite frankly, I like making things up. I like it even more when I get paid to make things up. It’s still surprising to me when people give me money for all these stories that have been roaming around in my mind.

Readers always want to know how long it takes for someone to “make it” in a creative field. Can you tell us a little about the path that brought you to where you are today?
Wow, this is a very complicated question. I started out in the 1980s as a database programmer for a major university who would program video games on the side. Then one day, I lost my job in state budget cuts. I took my summer of unemployment to bum around. I found a book about “gag writing.” I read it and started to write gags and send them to cartoonists and comedians. I was surprised that I sold thousands of them.

I then married a graduate student from Costa Rica. She owed Costa Rica years of service, so we moved there. We had our son. So I acted as a gag writer/house dad in Costa Rica for three years. I started working on my first novel, The Doomsday Brunette, then.

My wife took a post-doc position in the United States in 1994, and we moved back. I took a part-time job working on this new thing called the World Wide Web. I figured out this web thing was going to be big. A friend suggested I publish Doomsday Brunette on the web. I did, with his help. It did okay, so that made me decide to try other web publications. I did a comic called Computtons, and I also started on kicking ideas around for my next novel, The Plutonium Blonde. I didn’t really know what to do with this novel. I figured not being an actual novel writer, no publisher would want it. So I kind of sat on it.

One day while web surfing, I found the Sci-Fi Channel web site and asked them, “Hey, how would you like some original content?” I listed all the cartoonists and comedians I wrote for (some of them had TV shows). Sci-Fi said, “Sure.” So I wrote The Plutonium Blonde as a weekly web serial.

Once the story ran its course on the Sci Fi (now called syfy) site, I figured, “Now maybe a book publisher will like me.” I sent the story to an agent I knew. The agent sent it to all the major publishers. They ALL REJECTED it. So that was that. I figured writing over. I figured I would become a full time web guru.

Then in 1999, my cousin Larry Ganem (who works for DC comics) sent me a note about this little e-book publisher called Peanut Press. Larry had helped me with Plutonium Blonde and thought Peanut might be interested. I just sent them an e-mail. They responded in hours. They had read the story online and loved it.

So TPB became an e-book. The e-book sold great; it was their number one-selling e-book for many weeks, until some guy named Stephen King wrote Riding the Bullet. So then I figured, “That’s it — I’ve had my 15 minutes … Time to put the writing to rest.”

Then one day in early 2000, I am sitting at my cubicle doing web stuff, when I get an e-mail saying, “READ YOUR BOOK, LOVE IT. I THINK I WANT TO BUY IT. LET’S TALK.” I thought, “Ok, some lady wants to buy my book.” I sent the e-mail to my agent friend. My agent told me this was actually the owner of Daw books and I really should talk with her. Turns out she really did like my writing so much she wanted me to expand Plutonium Blonde into a full-length novel. I did so with Larry’s help; after all, in those days, I was a web guy not a writer. I didn’t know about things like when to use a ; and fancy writer stuff like that.

The rest is kind of history. In late 2001, I quit my day job very dramatically, stating, “The web is sucking my soul.” I haven’t looked back. I think I am on book 12 now.