The Eastern Kingdoms Cup is Now Live - New Dragonriding Races & Rewards

Live Posted 2023/10/04 at 2:03 AM by Jaydaa

Mount up and rediscover the skies of the Eastern Kingdoms with a new Dragonriding racing event arriving in Azeroth. “The Riders of Azeroth invite dragonriders to compete in races throughout the Eastern Kingdoms! Talk to Lord Andestrasz in Valdrakken for more information.” When: October 4–17
Where: Begins in Valdrakken, Stormwind, and OrgrimmarWith fourteen races spread across the Eastern Kingdoms, dragonriders will have a skyful of options for challenging courses in Normal, Advanced, and Reverse variations. Head to Valdrakken and speak to Lord Andestrasz near the Rostrum of Transformation to pick up the initial quest.

Blasted Lands Bolt (Blasted Lands)	Ironforge Interceptor (Dun Morogh)
Booty Bay Blast (Booty Bay)	Krazzworks Klash (Twilight Highlands)
Deadwind Derby (Deadwind Pass)	Loch Modan Loop (Loch Modan)
Elwynn Forest Flash (Elwynn Forest)	Plaguelands Plunge (Eastern Plaguelands)
Fuselight Night Flight (The Badlands)	Redridge Rally (Redridge Mountains)
Gilneas Gambit (Gilneas)	Redridge Rally (Redridge Mountains)
Gurubashi Gala (Stranglethorn Vale)	Twilight Terror (Twilight Highlands)

Rewards For a Fancy FlightIn addition to earning achievements for completing races, The Eastern Kingdom’s brave racers can earn Riders of Azeroth Badges. These can be exchanged for unique items and rewards from Maztha in Valdrakken or Dathendrash in Stormwind and Orgrimmar.Some rewards you can choose from include a new skin color customization for the Winding Slitherdrake and pieces to build the adventurous Drake Racer Dragonriding transmog set so you can dash through the skies with panache.
Brand New Dragon Customizations:

Customizations (Previously Dropped from Racing World Quests, Now Purchasable):

Previous Rewards:

Drake Racer’s Transmog Set:

Purchased Everything? You Can Repeatedly Buy:

Valdrakken Accord Insignia

The sky’s the limit (unless you’re trying to beat the timer); may the winds be at your back as you go for the gold.

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Comment by jamesoliffHi there race fans and welcome back to the exciting Azeroth GP season. The weather is mostly clear and many people are asking “Will any of them be as annoying as Ungoro or Ahn'Qiraj”, Tune in for complaints on your favourite comments thread.Comment by MaizouYou need 125 to buy just the new customizations. One is 50, 3 are 25. I already had the world quest ones so don't know their prices.Comment by QwagsoirShame that they only made the initial WQ patterns purchasable and not the forbidden reach or zaralek onesComment by VorseliaYou need 125 to buy just the new customizations. One is 50, 3 are 25. I already had the world quest ones so don't know their prices.Comment by saiadarI was hoping the other tints of the transmog set would pop up. Maybe for the outland cup?Comment by PassionButtImagine having a race in Gilneas, but lorewise not being allowed to go there. I hope they make it another capital someday, such a good city wasted.Comment by XexjiSo with 125 badges needed to purchase the new items, and 14 races total, that's 126 total badges from getting gold in basic, advanced, and reverse for each location, and an extra 10 from the quest for a maximum of 136 for one character.

So if you collected everything from the Kalimdor races last time, then a full clear on a single character should be enough to get everything this time. Triple gold on everything also likely rewards the title 'Eastern Kingdoms Racer <%>', which I could look up but am too lazy to do so. I'll edit in my thoughts with particularly difficult races as I clear them. However, some of the earlier listed difficulties could be due to me being rusty as it's been over a month since I did serious racing. I also tend to restart whenever I screw up (usually by hitting something) so my attempts are much higher than my actual completed races, and I don't tend to mark fair screw ups against the track but myself instead. I use the winding slitherdrake because it's model is the shortest and thinnest, but with big wings that help visualize speed. I did these on a below average sized character- Male Undead.

1. Booty Bay Blast Reverse Gold can die in a fire, since it's one where you pretty much DON'T use Skyhopping, which throws you off.
2. Gurubashi Gala is fine, but I wish the reverse start was a bit closer to the starting dragonkin. You basically have to mount to get back to him.
3. Deadwind Derby is pretty easy- good place to hone your Skyhopping- watching out for the arches means you can't spam the technique. Plus, flying through the hole in the tower is easy but makes you feel like you're really good at the game.
4. Blasted Lands Bolt was pretty easy all around
5. Redridge Rally was VERY easy up until reverse- that has a couple of tight vertical shifts that you can get caught on, but easy otherwise.
6. Elwynn Forest Flash is LOOONG, but not too difficult. However, this means that there's lots of chances for small hiccups to add up to a worse time. On Advanced after the first ring, I recommend hanging right to get the vigor orb in the water before the 2nd ring. That extra vigor isn't needed, but it helps a lot. Reverse is annoying, needing an almost perfect run.
7. Searing Slalom was also pretty easy, since it's pretty short and no trees to obscure the path.
8. Ironforge Interceptor was made by a demon. It's like Elwynn in length, but with low visibility with tree tops exchanged for snow blindness AND trees. There's also like a million fire orbs, but they're even more insidious- they don't really get in your way... but they do clutter your screen and make you THINK you're in danger. I hate it. The reverse is hell on earth and I pray for your sanity doing it.
9. Loch Modan Loop is interesting, as I got gold on my first advanced AND first reverse run despite being hit by fire orbs twice. Very forgiving IF you Skyhop.
10. Twilight Terror definitively does require SOME skyhopping, but too much and you will fail, especially on the final stretch when you head straight up. And a manual barrel (technically aileron) roll on that straight up makes you feel like Star Fox!
11. Fuselight Night Flight is pretty bog standard in terms of difficulty, but the fire orbs here are directly in your path so watch out.
12. Krazzworks Klash- More like Krash! This is a pretty technically impressive race, with zeppelins moving around. This means there's no single perfect route, but at least the timer is a bit longer to account for that.
13. Plaguelands Plunge has a lot of strange angles, so practice will be needed to do some sections without flying 'blind'. The arcane orbs also really suck. Advanced WILL need Skyhopping, as well as Reverse.
14. Gilneas Gambit had a lot of love put into it, but it's pretty long as a result. Skyhopping probably isn't necessary, but most of the track allows for it and it will look much prettier if you do.

Overall, these definitely have a different feel to them than the Kalimdor races. Most of this batch have been designed to not require/not want Skyhopping for nearly the entire track, so the trick is less effective. There were also a couple instances of vertical paths requiring manual barrel rolls, which is a new skill not yet displayed in any of the other races so far.

'Eastern Kingdoms Racer <%>' is the confirmed title awarded for a complete sweep, and if your character also swept the Kalimdor races and bought everything they could, you'll be left with 15 spare badges for when the next leg of the cup is released, probably being Outland.Comment by EsploratoreGood to see there's no challenge races, but just regular, advanced and reverse (from what the article says), those challenge ones force you to use the skyward ascent exploit, which was not intended by blizzard (as you have a button to speed up and one to gain elevation, the gain-elevation one is not supposed to be better than the one to speed up for max speed purposes) and hard to execute correctly.Comment by DraygonaGood to see there's no challenge races, but just regular, advanced and reverse (from what the article says), those challenge ones force you to use the skyward ascent exploit, which was not intended by blizzard (as you have a button to speed up and one to gain elevation, the gain-elevation one is not supposed to be better than the one to speed up for max speed purposes) and hard to execute correctly.Comment by KiauzeImagine having a race in Gilneas, but lorewise not being allowed to go there. I hope they make it another capital someday, such a good city wasted.Comment by NulgarShame that they only made the initial WQ patterns purchasable and not the forbidden reach or zaralek onesImagine having a race in Gilneas, but lorewise not being allowed to go there. I hope they make it another capital someday, such a good city wasted.Comment by AszlanGood to see there's no challenge races, but just regular, advanced and reverse (from what the article says), those challenge ones force you to use the skyward ascent exploit, which was not intended by blizzard (as you have a button to speed up and one to gain elevation, the gain-elevation one is not supposed to be better than the one to speed up for max speed purposes) and hard to execute correctly.Comment by Kanegasithose challenge ones force you to use the skyward ascent exploit, which was not intended by blizzardComment by lambd1The article lists Redridge Rally twice and misses the Searing Slalom.Comment by AzraelUltimaImagine having a race in Gilneas, but lorewise not being allowed to go there. I hope they make it another capital someday, such a good city wasted.Comment by IsisanWas kinda dissapointed with the difficulty of the races this cup, kalimdor had it all, easy races, average races and some tricky races, ahn qiraj reverse is still my favourite so far. Here I feel like they just let someone do races so people can be happy without giving it any fun aspect or making it slightly challenging. Shame hope the outland one will be better.Comment by ItacolomiImagine having a race in Gilneas, but lorewise not being allowed to go there. I hope they make it another capital someday, such a good city wasted.Comment by ShurqElalleAwww thought we would be getting more teal scales. Was hoping for Wylderdrake! Yellow for slither seems interesting. I wonder how it looks compared to bronze tho..Comment by GammageddeonShame that they only made the initial WQ patterns purchasable and not the forbidden reach or zaralek onesComment by SchattensangWait, you can just straight up buy renown with this time-sensitive event? That feels a bit ridiculous.

Yes yes, now somebody will say "this is old renown, nobody cares anymore", but honestly... if you are leveling up a new twink, then getting multiple of these renown tokens is pretty bonkers, especially considering they get multiplied with that 200% and 100% bonus.

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