Undocumented 9.1 Change Removed Important Torghast Story Quests

On September 1, 2018 Blizzard released an undocumented change to the game which removed a key story quest chain in Outland. This has caused some players to lose their progress and have been asking for compensation.

The “Undocumented 9.1 Change Removed Important Torghast Story Quests” is a change that was made in the undocumented patch notes for World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth. The change removed important story quests from the zone, and this has caused players to lose progress on these quests.

Chains of Domination, the major plotline focusing on bringing players into Korthia, was introduced with version 9.1, although it also seems to have disabled the possibility to finish many prior tasks that described the Torghast tale.

Byrhtnoth, a World of Warcraft forum member who first began playing Shadowlands after the release of 9.1, discovered that several tasks from the Torghast narrative are no longer accessible to complete.

These tasks first became accessible from Highlord Bolvar Fordragon after obtaining the Runecarver at the conclusion of the Covenant campaign’s second chapter, beginning with Explore Torghast. However, as Chains of Domination starts with the auto-accept quest The First Move, it seems that this overrides the ability to take up the prior missions – therefore, although they aren’t technically deleted from the game, they are simply impossible to start.

A Significant Story Has Been Lost

The fact that, unlike missions that just show the player around their covenant sanctuary, these questlines contained big, vital storylines, crucial to the plot of Shadowlands itself, is a major worry about losing these quests. The pre-patch cinematic for Shadowlands showed Jaina, Baine, Thrall, and Anduin being abducted by Mawsworn dispatched by Sylvanas and the Jailer. Finding and rescuing our leaders is one of the main reasons why we, as players, enter the Shadowlands in the first place, and the Story of Torghast deals directly with that mission.

Introductory Quests in the Shadowlands Players will no longer be able to discover and rescue Thrall and Jaina since these objectives are now impossible to accomplish. While players may still ask Bolvar to show them the critical cinematics featuring Sylvanas and Anduin that formerly occurred in these questlines, seeing them out of context isn’t the same.

Guides to the Stories

This isn’t the first time that important questlines have been pulled from the game, creating large gaps in the narrative. Legendary questlines, as as Wrathion’s during Mists of Pandaria, often vanish along with their rewards. This is one of the reasons Wowhead started making narrative guides and walkthroughs in the first place, so that at least some of the original experience may be preserved. To give you a quick rundown of the missing events,

You return to Torghast’s tower, this time to see if you can locate any evidence of Lady Jaina Proudmoore. You piece together a series of clues that include remnants of her essence, eventually utilizing them to locate her in the tower. Jaina is bewildered and frightened when you arrive, and she doesn’t believe you’re genuine at first, but you’re able to save her and return her to Oribos. You return to Torghast, where a Captive Dredger tells you about a “huge green dude” who shouted “lock the tar,” leading you to Thrall. The only person left to locate after he’s safe is Anduin Wrynn, although he seems to be exceptionally well concealed. In a vision sent by Bolvar Fordragon, you see Sylvanas Windrunner attempting to persuade Anduin to join her and The Jailer’s cause. They seem to be planning to use him as a weapon.

Bolvar Fordragon is plagued by horrible visions that bring him tremendous suffering in A Fateful Vision, shortly after defeating Sire Denathrius in Castle Nathria. He glances into Torghast once again with your assistance, this time to see Zovaal informing Sylvanas that her time is up – she has been unable to persuade Anduin to join their side, therefore he must be forced. Sylvanas approaches Anduin, intent on making him the weapon in any way he can, but surprise, he seems to connect with some mortal part of her that still exists. Anduin eventually confronts Sylvanas to make a decision, and she seems to be undecided. As Bolvar tries to see more, Zovaal notices him and sends chains via the Shattered Helm of Domination to encircle him in a chokehold. You manage to release him, and although he is rattled, Bolvar is safe for the time being.

Our Torghast plot guide contains a more extensive overview of the now-missing questlines under ‘Torghast’ and ‘A Fateful Vision’:

Torghast’s Adventures

The “torghast questline” is a series of quests that were removed from the game without warning. The change was not documented, and it has caused a lot of confusion for players who had already made progress in the story.