Elwynn Forest

Elwynn Forest is the green, peaceful heartland of the human kingdom of Stormwind and the starting zone for human characters. It covers levels 1 to 10, from the abbey at Northshire Valley to the farms and mines around the village of Goldshire. For many players it was the first place they ever saw in World of Warcraft, and its gnolls, kobolds and one very famous outlaw named Hogger are part of the game's shared memory.

Geography

Elwynn sits in the middle of the southern Eastern Kingdoms. Stormwind City rises at its northwestern edge, and the forest is the land the city's gates open onto. Roads run west to Westfall, east to the Redridge Mountains and south across a river into Duskwood.

Most of the zone is open woodland broken by farms, lakes and low hills:

• Northshire Valley, a walled valley in the north, holds Northshire Abbey, where human characters begin.
• Goldshire, at the crossroads in the center, has the Lion's Pride Inn, class trainers and a blacksmith.
• The Stonefield Farm and the Maclure Vineyards, south of Goldshire, belong to two feuding farm families.
• Fargodeep Mine and Jasperlode Mine are overrun by kobolds.
• Eastvale Logging Camp, in the east near Redridge, and the Tower of Azora, home of the mage Theocritus, sit on the eastern side.
• Westbrook Garrison and Forest's Edge guard the western border, where gnolls of the Riverpaw clan raid from Westfall.

History

Elwynn has been the core of Stormwind since the kingdom's founding. In the First War, the orcish Horde swept through these woods and burned Stormwind to the ground; the original Warcraft game opens with human campaigns fought in and around Elwynn. After the Second War the city was rebuilt, and the stonemasons who did the work were never fully paid. Their grievance grew into the Defias Brotherhood, whose bandits now lurk in Elwynn's western woods and mines.

In Classic, the kingdom's armies are stretched thin. The forest is policed by a small number of guards under Marshal Dughan in Goldshire, and the wanted posters, bounties and calls for help that fill the zone's quests come from that shortage.

Quests and notable NPCs

Elwynn's quests teach the basics: killing, collecting, exploring and delivering. Northshire Valley is run by Marshal McBride and Deputy Willem, who send new players after kobolds and Defias thieves in the vineyards. Out in the forest, most work comes from Marshal Dughan in Goldshire.

Notable quests:

The last is the zone's most famous. Hogger is a level 11 elite gnoll who roams the woods near Forest's Edge with a pack of Riverpaw followers. He hits far harder than anything else in Elwynn, and a wanted poster in Goldshire offers a reward for his Huge Gnoll Claw ([Huge Gnoll Claw]). Groups of low-level players gathering to take him down became one of the zone's rituals.

Two optional threats are worth knowing. Mother Fang is a rare spider that lurks in the Jasperlode Mine, and the Defias in the west carry the schedule for The Collector, which points to a Defias contact in Westfall.

The Stonefield and Maclure farms also give a small, self-contained story. The two families feud, while young Tommy Joe Stonefield and Maybell Maclure carry on a secret romance that players help along with notes and errands.

Dungeons

Elwynn has no dungeon of its own. The two nearest are The Stockade, the prison inside Stormwind City, and The Deadmines beneath Moonbrook in Westfall, which ends the Defias storyline that starts in Elwynn.

Getting there

Human characters start in Northshire Valley. Dwarves and gnomes can ride the Deeprun Tram from Ironforge to Stormwind City and walk out the main gate. Night elves sail from Auberdine to Menethil Harbor, cross the Wetlands and Dun Morogh to Ironforge, and take the tram from there.

There is no flight point in Elwynn itself in Classic. The gryphon master in Stormwind City serves the area, and Goldshire's inn is a common place to set a Hearthstone.

Sources

• Elwynn Forest, Warcraft Wiki
• Hogger, Warcraft Wiki
• Quest data from WoWDB (patch 1.12)