You've finally reached level 70 and are stumped on what to do now?
Hours to kill and nothing to do?
Or perhaps you're simply tired of your old mount?

Why not try following this guide and you might end up with a slightly cooler mount... Like this perhaps?

Introduction

So you've decided that you want a netherdrake as a mount...
That's fine and dandy, but where do you start and what do you do?

This guide is here to tell you the how and why of things and to get you started. But I think you should know that all the hints and tips I deal are based on playing a shaman. Some classes will have to use very different tactics on some quests.

Before you start you need to fulfill two criteria:
- You must be level 70
- You must be able to fly (mount or flying form)
It should also be aware that to actually use the Netherdrake mount, once you have it, you must be able to fly epic flying mounts. If flies just as fast as a regular epic flying mount (280% flying, 100% running), but it looks oh so good!

To aid you in your questing I've made some marks on the Shadowmoon Valley map. If I refer to an area (i.e. "Go to Area 2") you can easily find out where I mean. Area 4 is for quests following this Prelude.

By the way, if anyone manages to guess what the background on the mechastrider picure used to be before I changed it I'll give them 100 gold (if they migrate to EU Trollbane or create a character there). :)

Now onto the meat and bones of this guide...

The prelude

Before you can start grinding rep for the Netherwing faction you have to complete a series of quests. These quests are rather simple and can be done pretty easily alone, except for the final quest, "Zuluhed the Wacked".

First you need to go to Netherwing Field (Area 1) in the southeastern part of Shadowmoon Valley.

Wandering among the crystals there you'll find Mordenai, the questgiver that start the questchain. Unfortunately he's an aggressive bastard and will continually attack the Flayers there, so you'll have to be quick once you see his exclamation point light up.

Beware...
At regular intervals Ruul, an elite dragonrider, will land at the western edge of the Netherwing Fields and walk toward the east side. Keep your distance unless you're in a tough party.

Feeding time
This first quest sends you out to kill flayers so you can feed dragons.

The big ones drop the carcasses you need, and the small ones drop scraps which you can combine to make a carcass (3 or 5 to make, I don't remember). The flayers stay close to the crystal formations.
Once you have a carcass you can head for an open area and use it to feed a dragon. Once you've used the carcass you must stay completely still or the dragon will attack you. Even standing still and turning is a bad idea.

Neltharaku
Flying a bit higher than the regular netherdrakes you'll find Neltharaku, a huge spectral-looking dragon.

He flies around over the Netherwing Fields (Area 1), traveling clockwise. He's a bit hard to talk to, so you'll have to fly slalom while rightclicking on him like crazy. It's frustrating but possible.
He'll tell you a story and then send you off to kill fifteen Dragonmaw orcs over at Dragonmaw Fortress (Area 2).

Any orc there should do. If you don't feel like taking on the main gate and risk getting Ruul up your backside there's a side-entrance to the left of the gate.

To Netherwing Ledge!
You'll now be asked to go to Netherwing Ledge (Area 3) to get 12 crystals of some sort. You'll spend many hours at this "island" after the prelude, so you might as well learn the way there.
The crystals can be found amidst the many crystal formations on the ledge, and almost all of them are near 2-3 Dragonmaw peons. Time to kill some more orcs.

This should be quickly done, but watch out for the Dragonmaw Ascendants, 20 feet tall elites patroling the ledge...

Freedom
You're now given some sort of crystal and asked to free six enslaved Netherdrakes from the orcs over at Dragonmaw Fortress (Area 2).

The easiest way is to fly to the south of the fortress, turn north and come in from the back. If you land on the mountainous ridge here you'll easily see a few of these drakes and orcs.
Target a drake and use the crystal. Wait until you see the drake attacking the orc, and then start whacking at the orc yourself. If the drake survives you've freed it.

Zuluhed the Whacked
This final piece of the prelude is the hardest part you'll do in the entire quest for a Netherdrake mount. You'll need a full five-man group at level 70, one a tank and at least one healer.

You'll be asked to free Neltharaku's mate, Karynaku, from the Dragonmaw.

She can be found on top of the Dragonmaw Fortress (Area 2), and it is quite safe to land there. If you rightclick her ball-and-chan you'll activate the "Zuluhed the Whacked" quest. Don't do it just yet.
You should first clear out the two dragons in the courtyard, and the orcs in the rooms to the side of the gate (visible in the picture). Each hold 2 or 3 orcs. Right after everyone has rested you should start the quest so you won't be surprised by spawns during the boss-fight.

Zuluhed is powerful... He'll hit you hard and fast, and will use AoE effects (fire mostly). A short while into the fight he'll start summoning a level 72 Elite pitfiend (like the cute little one waiting downstairs of the Dark Portal). You do NOT want to fight this demon, so here's the trick:

Get everyone but one player into one of the rooms. The player not there activates the quest and then runs to the others. Zuluhed materializes by the gate and has some hate toward the player starting the quest...
In the room let the tank get a healthy dose of aggro before attacking, and the healer should keep the tank alive (pretty standard business, really). After a while you'll notice a purple-pink portal in the room. That's Zuluhed summoning his demon, and this is your signal to run like hell.

Run over to the other room with Zuluhed in tow (do not use abilities to slow him). If you've timed this right there will be no players withing aggro range of the elite demon and you can keep killing Zuluhed.
The demon will find you eventually, but this way you've bought yourself another 30-60 seconds before he attacks. He'll disappear a few seconds after you kill Zuluhed.

If you mess up and the demon aggros too soon you should keep all focus on Zuluhed and loot him as soon as he dies. That way you're sure to get the key you need in case the demon get in a killing blow before disappearing.

Once the battle is over you loot a key from Zuluhed and use it to let Karynaku free. She'll fly you to Neltharaku and Mordenai...

What now?

You've now finished the prelude to the netherwing reputation quests. Your Netherwing faction should be at Neutral, and the netherdrakes here will leave you be from now on.
You'll also notice that you've earned a disguise that automatically activates near Dragonmaw Fortress and Netherwing Ledge.

It's now time to head south towards Netherwing Ledge. This is where you'll spend many hours grinding faction rep with daily quests. And how to do that I'll cover in the next part of this guide.
Until then I wish you luck...