Quest

A quest is a task given to a player character that yields a reward when completed. Most quests are given by an NPC, but can also come from right-clicking signs (usually the wanted poster type), reading scrolls or documents, opening containers, or using certain looted items. Until the level cap is reached, a quest will also reward the character with Experience Points (XP). After that, gold will be received instead. Many quests will also reward the character with reputation from the same faction as the NPC quest giver.

There are currently almost 40,000 quests in World of Warcraft. The initial design had only 100 Horde quests, 100 Alliance quests and 100 neutral quests planned for the entire game.

For a complete list of quests available, see the Category:Quests by level page.

Starting out

If not starting on Exile's Reach, players start in a starting area depending on their race. Players may encounter common quests and also note some race or class-specific quests with several level-appropriate creatures around and a limited number of NPCs. Some of the quests in World of Warcraft are single-step, but more often there are multiple follow-up quests that turn into a long quest series, or "chain".

Many NPCs offer more than one quest; when talking to them, a window appears giving the option to select which quest to talk to them about, using the same symbols that appear over their heads. To find out the quest or the status of an uncompleted quest, talk to the NPC with a quest status indicator. Occasionally, while adventuring in Azeroth, a player may encounter dropped or fixed items that will give out quests when activated (right-clicked).

Identifying quest givers

Quest givers appear on the mini-map

Quest complete turn-in appears on the mini-map

See also: Category:Quest givers

This section contains information that is out-of-date. Reason: Icons updated.

Players can identify quest giving NPCs from indicators over their heads and on the minimap:

• A gold exclamation point () indicates an available quest
• The "flag" campaign quest marker distinguishes major quests that are required to advance the narrative from optional side quests that tell more localized stories.
• A silver exclamation point () indicates a quest that will be available when the character gain a few levels. This does not display on the minimap.
• A gold question mark () indicates a completed quest (having met its requirements). In the past, they would appear as a yellow dot () on the minimap, but this was easily confused with other detectable things.
  • The marker will show up on the minimap (see lower image to the right).
  • The "flag" active campaign quest marker distinguishes major quests that are required to advance the narrative from optional side quests that tell more localized stories.
• A silver question mark () indicates an in-progress (uncompleted) quest that a character still has unmet requirements to meet.
  • The "flag" active campaign quest marker distinguishes major quests that are required to advance the narrative from optional side quests that tell more localized stories.
• A blue exclamation point () or question mark () indicates that the NPC has a repeatable quest available. These type of quests are usually meant as a means of gaining reputation with a certain faction, as a reward and xp is only given the first time the quest is completed. After that, xp gained is much lower and there is often no reward but a certain amount of reputation for the respected faction.
• A red exclamation point over a monster indicates killing it will start a quest. An example is the Angry Blight Slimes in the Ruins of Southshore.
• An orange exclamation point () indicates the quest is part of a Legendary or Artifact item quest chain.

Players can also identify quest givers by the pointer change when hovering them:

quest giver     quest giver out of range

Players can identify quest enders (completed quest) by the pointer change hovering them:

quest ender     quest ender out of range

repeatable quest ender

Low level quests

If a quest is too low level (represented by a gray color in the quest log), it will be much less visible. This happens when a character has a higher level than the zone level, and they are not in a Timewalking Campaign. They can still be completed as normal, but give a trivial amount of experience and gold.

By default, an exclamation point () will not appear above the quest giver's head, nor will one appear on the minimap without an extra step (see below). Since patch 2.3, the quest title in the quest giver's talk window will also be tagged "(Low Level)".

In World of Warcraft: Classic, a low-level quest can only be discovered only by mousing over (or interacting with) its quest giver. Patch 3.0.2 introduced "Low Level Quest" tracking on the minimap radar, to display exclamation points () for every available quest and causing a dull exclamation point to appear over NPCs offering low-level quests.

Quest types

The Objective Tracker interface

In World of Warcraft, quests are separated into several broad categories, as defined by the Map Legend:

Type	Description
Campaign	Quests that continue the main story
Important	Quests that unlock important features and rewards, or teach the player about major mechanics
Legendary	Quests that give legendary rewards
Meta	Time-gated quests that give valuable endgame rewards
Repeatable	Time-gated quests
Local Story	Quests that explore local cultures and side adventures

There are many other types of quests that fall under those categories:

• Solo quests — the most common kind.
• Group quests — suggested for more than 1 player.
• Dungeon quests — objective of the quest is inside an instance.
• Heroic quests — objective of the quest is inside a Heroic-mode version of an instance.
• Raid quests — objective of the quest is inside a raid instance or involves a raid boss.
• PvP quests — quests need to be completed while flagged for PvP.
• Repeatable quests — can be soloable or for groups with the primary intention to boost reputation with a faction.
• Daily quests — special repeatable type of solo quest introduced in The Burning Crusade for those at the level cap to primarily generate money, but changed in to be used more as an RRQ also.
• Seasonal quests — available only for limited periods of time and often related to events or holidays.
• Emissary quests — Reputation boosting quests for rewards.
• (Standard) Legendary quests — usually the main story-line during Battle for Azeroth, such as the War Campaign
• Legendary quests — Quests that give legendary items.
• Campaign quests — The main story line for new zones (e.g. Dragon Isles).
• Important quests — Quests that unlock important features and rewards.
• Callings — Daily quests related to the Covenants.

The following quests are considered "Limited Time Activities":

• World quests — quick, rotating quests to solve a problem that popped up in an area.
  • World boss
• Bonus Objectives — objectives for entering certain areas.
• Events (Time Rifts, etc.)
• Rare and Rare Elites

Solo quests

Most quests are intended to be completed by a single player, but depending on the quest, different classes may have differing levels of difficulty completing quests.

Group quests

In the quest text, a group quest will have a recommended number of players to complete this type of quest. These number estimates are conservative, and some 2-player quests can be easily soloed while others may be slightly difficult with given number of players. Many quests recommending 3-4 players can be done with 2 players.

Previously called an "elite" quest.

Dungeon quests

Requires an objective inside an instance. Other than that, they can be similar to solo and group quests.

Heroic quests

For non-raiders, these are the hardest quests as they require completion inside a Heroic mode, non-raid instance. These are the hardest types of non-raid quests to complete for players of the recommended level range. These quests can also be a variant of a daily quest which tends to be slightly easier.

Raid quests

Requires an objective inside a raid instance or involving an outdoor raid boss. Besides the Heroic quests, these are the hardest types of quests to complete for players of the recommended level range. This is the only quest type that can be done while in a raid group

PvP quests

These quests require players complete them while flagged for PvP and usually in a PvP battleground or zone. These quests can also be a variant of a daily quest which may be tied to a specific battleground or can be very tedious and often are ignored by PvP-oriented players.

Repeatable quests

Main article: Repeatable quest

Most quests are of the standard type (). However, some can be repeated indefinitely (or at least until some maximum is hit) and can be identified by the blue or over the head of the quest giver whether or not the requisite items are held. The symbol remains a blue after it is turned in again. Such repeatable quests are quite frequently begun by a normal quest, and once that quest has been completed it appears as described.

Most repeatable quests are repeatable reputation quests (RRQs) for increasing reputation with a particular faction. See the repeatable reputation quest article for a list. Contrary to the type of quest described just above, for example, the Timbermaw furbolgs of Felwood and Winterspring require proof of allegiance. In this case, each time the quest is turned in, rather than having a blue question mark, a familiar gold exclamation point appears.

The Darkmoon Faire has special repeatable quests that both increase reputation and allow players to collect tickets for rewards.

Technically, these quests cannot be done indefinitely, since they stop appearing if a reputation maximum is reached.

Daily quests

See also: Daily quest or Category:Daily quests

Daily quests are a sub-type of repeatable quests are only available once per 24 hours. The exact reset hour depends on the realm, but it never changes, is chosen to be in the early AM, and will not coincide with the instance reset. Each character used to be limited to 25 quests of this type they could do a day, until the limit was removed in Mists of Pandaria.

Daily quests come in normal, profession, heroic, and PvP subtypes.

Weekly quests

Weekly quests are a sub-type of repeatable quests that are only available may only do once per week, often resetting on Tuesday for US servers and Wednesday for EU servers.

Monthly quests

Monthly quests are a sub-type of repeatable quests that are only available do once per month. Very few quests do this, most notably the profession quests at the Darkmoon Faire are monthly quests, since the faire is only available one week out of each month.

Seasonal quests

See also: Event or Category:Events

Main article: Event

Seasonal quests are available during short time (from one day to two weeks) at a special time of year. They can be both normal and daily; some normal quests can be repeatable during the next season.

Bonus Objectives

Bonus Objectives

When a character walks around a zone, new objectives might appear randomly in the quest list. Completing the objectives will reward the player with extra experience. The objective will disappear if the area is left. , though progress will not be reset.

Starting in Shadowlands, rare mobs will usually have bonus objectives associated with them.

As of Dragonflight, bonus objectives have brief descriptions.

World quests

Main article: World quest

Emissary quests

Main article: Emissary system

Legendary quests

Legendary quests give legendary or artifact items. During Battle for Azeroth, it was the main storyline quests such as the War Campaign.

Campaign quests

Campaign quests are the main storyline to a specific zone or expansion.

Important quests

Important quests unlock important features and rewards.

Callings

Main article: Callings

Callings are special daily quests related to the Covenants of Shadowlands. Unlike regular daily quests, Callings have a timer of three days. Each day a new calling becomes available, with a maximum of three callings to be possible to have active. In addition to being listed in the Quest Log under "Callings", they are also listed on the Covenant Report.

See the following categories for list of all callings:

Category:Kyrian Callings quests

Category:Necrolord Callings quests

Category:Night Fae Callings quests

Category:Venthyr Callings quests

Quest variations

Most standard quest tasks take one of the following forms with a variety of quest objectives:

• Gather a number of items and return them to the quest giver or some other NPC.
• Kill a number of creatures and return to the quest giver or another NPC.
• Deliver an item (usually a letter or a package) or some items from the quest giver to another NPC.
• Kill a number of creatures and loot quest item(s) from them, and return with the quest item(s) to the quest giver or another NPC.
• Use a profession to acquire or make a single or several items and return with the item(s) to the quest giver or another NPC.
• Escort an NPC from one place to another, usually through a dangerous area. (See Category:Escort quests.)
  • Many quests that involve escorting an NPC through an area full of mobs can be quite difficult to do alone.  [18G2] The Defias Brotherhood quest in Westfall is one such example, as is the Forsaken quest in Silverpine Forest  [11] Escorting Erland. The NPCs of those quests are suicidal hotshots who engage each enemy within a 10-yard radius despite your directive to keep them alive, leaving you to save them from themselves as well as all the other mobs attempting to eat both of you. In addition, many escort quests have scripted events where a number of enemies will spawn right in front of you, forcing you to fight them at once. Failing these quests occurs commonly, but you can easily abandon it and start over. Or, in some cases, if you find yourself overwhelmed during quests like these, abandon the quest and run away as far as you can, and try it again when you are at a higher level or have some backup coming with you. "The Defias Traitor" is notorious as a favored target for Horde attacks, which simply extends the duration of the quest (and, in some cases, necessitates a complete restart of the quest).
  • Some players find Escort quests extremely annoying because the NPC almost always walks, regardless of the reason for the escort (even when you are escorting an NPC during an escape, they only run if they are moving to attack something).
  • When soloing escort quests, a useful tactic is to stay slightly ahead of the NPC, so that you can tank with any enemies that attempt to ambush your escort. This tactic is much more effective if the escort quest is at a much lower level than your character.
• Find and speak to an NPC, which usually leads to a subsequent quest. When such quests are designed to have the sole purpose of leading a player from one zone to another, they are known as Bread Crumb Quests
• Build and/or maintain a level of reputation with a specific faction.
• Explore a particular region or area and return to the quest giver or some other NPC.
• Breadcrumb quests exist for the sole purpose of guiding the player to a new zone or subzone to quest in. They are often given by NPCs upon completing the previous quest hub, as well as Hero's Call Boards, Warchief's Command Boards, and the Adventure Guide. Often there are multiple breadcrumb quests followed by the same follow-up quest, and normally they are mutually exclusive, meaning that accepting one breadcrumb quest will make all the others leading to the same location unavailable. Also, normally completing the follow-up quest will make any breadcrumb quests leading to it unavailable, whether or not they were completed.
• Use a vehicle, most often to kill a substantial number of enemies quickly, but for no experience. Vehicles have up to six abilities and can be either literal vehicles, an NPC the adventurer is training, or even a historical figure from the game's lore.
• Use a quest item to do something special to enemies or objects. It may either kill outright, transmute, or cause any number of other effects on the target.

NOTE: Some quests have a time limit, which is counted down in a clock that appears under the mini-map.

Quest rewards

See also: Reputation

Most rewards take the form of items or money, but some quests (especially class-specific ones) give abilities or spells. Some of the more desirable reward items include uncommon quality or better items or recipes for use with professions. All quests tend to include XP as part of the reward, although some repeatable reputation quests do not reward XP.

Additional notes:

• Some quests permit choosing among multiplereward items.
• Most reward items will be bind on pickup, also known as Soulbound.
• The completion of quests will also impact the player character's reputation with particular factions, which can have further beneficial effects such as cheaper prices at vendors and access to special vendors such as mounts.
• Some reward items may not be usable by the player character (based on class usually). In this case many players simply choose the item that sells for the most gold, or best [Disenchant] materials if they are an enchanter.

• Characters at level cap gain money instead of XP for turning in quests. This was done to encourage them to continue completing quests in the endgame. The exchange rate is 6 copper for each XP that the quest would otherwise have given (for example, a quest yielding 14150 XP gives 8 49 extra); however, repeatable quests are exempt from this rule and will not yield additional money.

Quest chains

Main article: Quest chain

A quest chain (also known as "questline" or similar terms) is a series of quests connected in the sense that when quest A is completed, quest B becomes available. The majority of quests in the game are connected in quest chains, and progressing along quest chains provide much of the game's story element.

Managing a quest log

Currently active quests are listed with their status and details in the Quest Log (L key). Quests can also be shared with other party members. A player can be in the process of completing (or completed but not turned in) up to 35 quests at any one time.

Sharing quests

To share a quest, open the Quest Log, select a quest and click Share Quest at the bottom of the window. Each member of the party who is in the vicinity will be prompted whether they want to join the quest. After trying to share a quest, the following things may happen:

• If the party member is eligible for a quest, a yellow system message will appear stating the player is sharing the quest with the character. The receiving character will get a quest window as if they were receiving a quest from an NPC.
• If the party member accepts the quest, a yellow system message will appear stating the character accepted the quest.
• If the party member is not eligible to begin a quest, a yellow system message will appear stating the character is not eligible. This can happen if the party member is, for example, of the wrong class (if the quest is class-specific) or is of insufficient level. It can also happen if the character has not completed the quest's prerequisite quest(s), if any, or does not have the special item that starts the quest.
• If the party member already has the quest, has already completed the quest, or has a full quest log, a yellow system message will appear stating this.
• As of patch 3.0.3, there is no longer a restriction on distance for sharing quests.

Some quests will not be sharable, since they apply only to the player who accepted the quest. If the option to accept the quest is not given to a party member, they will not receive credit for having helped complete it. If accepting the quest gives an item which is required to do the quest, the quest is usually not shareable.

Abandoning quests

Quests can be abandoned with no penalty by clicking Abandon Quest in the Quest Log, except that the player must find the quest giver again to pickup the quest again. The Cancel button in the Quest Log just closes the window and does not affect any selected quests. There will be a warning that the special quest items already obtained (if there are any) will be destroyed when the quest abandoned. This does not include normal, non-quest items needed for some quests.

"Kill X of Y" quests

Any quests that require a player to kill an "X" amount of something will restart at 0 killed if or when the quest is picked up again. This will affect all kill counters for any single quest, regardless of the number of different items needed to kill.

"Collect X of Y" quests

If the items being collected are marked as Quest item, those items will be lost when the related quest is abandoned. Items such as trade goods, which are not quest items, will not be lost.

Quests that require collecting an "X" amount of something will be updated to show the current amount already collected (in inventory or in the bank) when the quest is picked up again.

The quests that are most easily abandoned are the ones that come from drops that have been found. This way, the item can simply be reactivated and the quest obtained again. Other good quests to drop (if necessary) are those received from NPCs in the area of a  [Hearthstone]-bound inn, since they can be re-obtained without traveling far. It can be inconvenient, however, if a decision is later made to complete a quest obtained there, as a considerable distance may need to be traveled to reach the completion area. It can be very difficult to juggle quests. It may be helpful to write down which quests have been seen, where they are obtained, where they are completed, and where they are turned in, so that several quests can be completed at once in a single area.

Trivia

• During the early development of World of Warcraft, quest text instantly appeared when talking to quest givers. However, Blizzard received feedback from their internal testers that there wasn't enough story in the game, which turned out to be because testers would simply skip the quest description and go straight to the objectives. To encourage people to actually read the lore, the designers made quest text appear gradually by "typing" across the quest interface instead of having it all pop up at once. To the designers' amusement, the same testers who had previously complained about the lack of lore responded by praising the "addition" of story to the game. An option of switching to the instantaneous quest text was later implemented.
• During the development of World of Warcraft, each playable race was originally planned to have an epic life quest which told the story of that race. As they started implementing these life quests, however, the designers increasingly found that they felt canned rather than cool and individual since they gave the same backstory to every player character of a particular race. The designers ultimately steered in the direction of simply making epic high-level questlines with stories based around the NPCs, rather than trying to tell players what their character's life story is. A similar idea was eventually implemented with the introduction of heritage armor quests in Battle for Azeroth.
• According to former lead animator Kevin Beardslee, the exclamation point quest indicator was inspired by Metal Gear Solid, which uses an exclamation point to show when an enemy has spotted the player.

Notes

• The Quests category on Warcraft Wiki has articles on many specific quests. This list may not be as comprehensive as database sites such as Wowhead, but the quest articles have the advantage of being a summary of information on a quest, as opposed to a long list of sometimes conflicting or old comments added to the raw quest data.
• New quests can be added to Warcraft Wiki using the Quest Boilerplate to record the details and adding categories for the starting zone, obtainable at level (e.g. Quests at 1-30) and other categories as appropriate. Then update the main zone quest guide page, and any pages for the quest giver or starting item.

Patch changes

• Patch 9.0.1 (2020-10-13): Introduced the camapign quest marker.
  
• Patch 7.0.3 (2016-07-19): Introduced world quests.
  
• Patch 6.0.2 (2014-10-14): Introduced bonus objectives.
  
• Patch 5.0.4 (2012-08-28): Introduced legendary quests.
  
• Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12): NPC quest giver names highlight in a color and float above their heads.
  
• Patch 3.0.3 (2008-11-04): Distance restriction on sharing quests removed.
  
• Patch 3.0.2 (2008-10-14): Mini-map setting to show low level quests. Dimmed quest indicators for low-level quests.
  
• Patch 2.3.2 (2008-01-08): Improved pointer support.
  
• Patch 2.3.0 (2007-11-13): Quest available and complete indicators appear on mini-map. Pointer changes when over quest giver based on status.
  

See also

• Long, exceptional, or hidden questlines - A listing of quests that have many steps, are generally regarded as exceptional by those that do them, are particularly memorable, or are difficult enough to find that very few people come across them during regular play.