As the mysterious World of Warcraft Guest Relations event rolls on, Blizzard steps in to help some WoW secret hunters that accidentally stumbled into a clue earlier than expected. Thinking about the fact that WoW is 20 years old has me a little weak in the knees, but The War Within has restored its reputation to stand alongside FF14 as the reigning MMORPG champions even among challenges from the likes of Throne and Liberty, or the upcoming Ashes of Creation. A particular puzzle in the WoW 20th anniversary celebrations, however, has players stumped for now.
Among all the ongoing mysteries in the World of Warcraft anniversary event, a surprise discovery threw Blizzard’s carefully laid plans into disarray. One player happened to stumble across an Inert Peculiar Key hidden inside a tree stump in Marshal’s Refuge, in Un’Goro Crater. The problem is that they hadn’t actually found the clue that was supposed to lead them there. Fortunately, community manager Randy ‘Kaivax’ Jordan has now delivered some helpful tips for the MMORPG’s treasure hunters to get them back on track.
“Some players have recently noticed that there are a few oddities around, and things aren’t quite adding up,” Jordan writes in a post to the WoW forums. He offers some general advice to secret hunters, but then notes, “For the diligent explorers who have already found a key item, you may have missed the clue that would lead you there! It might be fun to find, if you were so inclined.”
Spurred on by this knowledge, the secret hunters retraced their steps, and came across a lake in the Borean Tundra that was filled with Distracting Wisps. These were used during the event’s questline, but actually held a much greater secret. As detailed by Wowhead, viewing the wisps from above reveals that they are in the shape of the real-world Crater constellation.
Alongside this, fishing in the lake uncovered three more familiar clues – an Old Chain Link, a Gnome Effigy, and Rusted Engineering Parts. Together with the constellation clue, this took players to the Classic WoW questline Linken’s Adventure, a warm-hearted nod to the Legend of Zelda games featuring Gnome adventurer Linken. As it turns out, the mysterious Inert Peculiar Key was located within the tree trunk where Linken stood in Classic WoW – it just took the secret-spotting Torch of Pyrreth to uncover.
Unfortunately, the new details still don’t reveal the next piece of the puzzle, which appears to be a Peculiar Gem that needs to be placed in the key. It’s also unclear what the resulting Peculiar Key will do, although the popular speculation currently is that it might lead to one of the most notably absent items in the anniversary event so far: Incognito, the Indecipherable Felcycle, a glowing motorbike mount.
For those still on the hunt, Jordan reminds players, “Please solve mysteries at your own pace. Some secrets will be extremely challenging compared to other content. Please take your time and have fun with it.” He also confirms that any character can find every secret without the use of addons or paid purchases, and that bannable behavior such as hacks or glitches are not required (and, indeed, not allowed). “Secrets are tough, but fair – everything you need to solve Azeroth’s mysteries is available to you.”
While they aren’t required for this particular mission, it’s worth making sure you’re up to date with the best WoW addons in 2024. If this head-scratcher has got you in the mood for more challenges, here are the best puzzle games on PC.
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