How to complete this quest chain post Battle for Azeroth update:
After about 3 hours of frustration, anger and despair (like the Burdens of Emperor Shaohao) i managed to complete this at level 111 in assassination spec, so thought i would try to save others some time and tell you the best ways i found to do each city now that the guards are 120.
There are a lot of good tips in various threads already but most were added when guards couldnt see you and when you could blind, sap or distract them. Even vanish is next to useless now.
- First thing is expect to die a lot and prepare yourself for lots of tedious ghost runs back to your corpse and hefty repair bills. Once you find peace with this it just becomes a case of positioning your corpse for the kill (rediculous, i know).
- if you are in no rush then get yourself to 120 and come back to it later. This wasnt an option for me, my rogue is an alt and the 9th class mount quest i’ve done, with 3 more classes to go so i really didnt want to have to level him to complete a 110 quest chain.
- for me, in assassination spec, the following were essential - distract (for silvermoon mark), vendetta (for thunderbluff and orgrimmar marks), kidney punch (for thunderbluff mark) and the talent cheat death (buys time for all marks). Have vendetta available as a button both in and out of stealth
- Get this done before any future expansions make guards even higher level!
Silvermoon
If i had known at the time that this was probably the easiest of the 4 then i probably wouldn’t have continued. I died about 4-5 times to guards as this was before i realised the major flaw in the mechanics. You just have to sneak in as close to the mark as possible, trying to creep further inside with each guard death. I was able to remain stealthed with my back against the closest wall to where the mark was patrolling. When ready at the mark, use distract to keep the robot thing happy and then vendetta and kill the mark asap. I think i actually survived this hit but fully expect to res at the spirit healer and wait out the sickness while travelling to the next city.
Undercity
This ended up taking the longest due to the number of deaths trying to get into position and trying to actually locate the mark (probably around 10 deaths for me). Might be worth seeking out a video of where the mark is or casing the joint as a horde character (inside man). The only way to it is by flying (which is annoying in itself). In fact, had i known what i am about to tell you this would have been quite an easy one, once there, but it took me some trial and error. Firstly you are going to need to talk to the time reversing guy outside so that the undercity is the old version. You can see the guy on the main map as a little speach bubble. Then, first entry should be via the sewer but, once your body is in the canal, it is quicker to get to it via the usual undercity entrance and lift. You are aiming to get your corpse to the closest bridge that crosses the canal (green slime river running around the outside edge) to the where the mark is highlighted on the map. The slime wont hurt you but guards will see you and kill you almost instantly and you wont avoid death by swimming in the canal due to the patrolling bat, so expect positioning to take some time. You can fly quite a lot of the way in and, if really lucky, the bat will be far enough away for you to get most, if not all of the way there. Always try to die as close to the bridge as possible. If you die at the mark then the res area is usually pretty close but watch for a guard under the mark area. When your corpse is in position wait for the bat to fly over you and out of range then res, mount a flying mount and fly up and forward towards a ledge over the middle of the balcony where the mark patrols. There is a big sheet obscuring the centre area. You are going to go from flying to stealthed and falling through that big sheet to a table underneath it. Then get back to the wall and wait for the mark to get near the table before killing it (important otherwise a million guests and guards join in). You need to be quick to kill it as the two party go-ers to the left and sometimes a patrolling guest will join the fight. On my sucessful run I tried distracting the two party go-ers. Not sure if it worked or not as it all happened so fast but you should be able to kill this mark quite easily once in position.
Thunderbluff
Having read the various tips in this and other threads i was expecting this to be easy. It is not, due to the number of 120 guards surrounding him. I died quite a few times before i got it right. In front of him is a drum. Aim to land, stealthed behind the far side of this drum when the patrolling guard has gone. When you die in each attempt always res behind this drum and immediatly stealth BUT always wait for the patrolling guard to pass first. Now stay in front of the mark, if you go behind him the guards will get you. Pick his pockets for the key and use the key to remove his armour. There are some bats flying above. I could never determine if they were a threat or not so just be aware they are there. As soon as his armour is down try killing him. Vendetta and kidney punch are essential here as the trickiest bit about this mark is that he runs and as soon as he does you will pull guards when you follow him. So stun him after 3 or 4 hits. I was going to try blind on him but never got the chance as kidney shot worked a treat. Expect a few deaths while practicing and dont expect to come out alive once he is dead.
Orgrimmar
This is probably the 2nd easiest to get into position but the hardest to pull off a kill due to the number of active players. I got so frustated at one point that, feeling it was impossible, i opened a ticket (not heard back yet). All the other cities are mostly dead but here you have a lot of 120s, a lot of pvp-ers and you are in the busiest building in the city; the auction house! I have to hand it to those horde folks though, if i am at the auctioneer my actual real house would have to be on fire for me to stop what i am doing but these folks are really on the ball! As soon as i did one hit on the auctioneer i would have a number of 120s insta-killing me. There are also 2 guards who are really really close to the auctioneer so you need to be really careful about where you stand. Anyway, fly in and aim to die behind the auction house, tucked into the far corner where the wall touches the building (there may be 2 auction houses in orgrimmar?, this is the southern-most one, to the side of the big building in the centre). Exact positioning isnt important just so long as you can res inside the building, as far behind the mark as you can go. If you stand behind her so that she is inbetween you and the horde players talking to her and slowly move backwards to a point where your mellee attacks are about to go out of range then you should be behind a pillar with some boxes behind you and to your left, but still be able to see her. Now log out and wait until either the small hours of the night or the early hours of the day. I was there at about 6:30am and there were about 4 players in the AH. If you can, go earlier as i only just managed to kill her before they got me and i suspect i was lucky. So go from dead to rez, no stealth, just vendetta and start hitting her as soon as possible. You will die but with luck you will get her too.
I have never been as close to rage quitting in all my 15 yrs of wow as when doing this quest. I am sure no one expects blizzard to go back and check every single quest in the game when new mechanics come about in new expansions but the class mount quests are something that i am sure are very important to a large number of players and should be tweaked whenever something like this changes. It is bad enough trying to do your class hall campaign without locking yourself out of the required dungeons by going 111! An item that makes all your stealth related skills level 120 or an instanced version of cities where guards are at the correctly tuned level or just a closer flipping graveyard would be a start! The fact that there is a pvp element to a pve chain is also a terrible decision especially now that the players themselves are also 120. I play to have fun and expect the odd blip now and then but this was just a horrible ordeal.
Anyway, i hope this helps someone, i wish you luck!