It's been awhile since I've updated. No, I haven't died, I've just been busy. At the moment I'm in Northrend, and I don't know if I'll be able to make the pre-patch, but hope springs eternal.
I did quite a lot of quests in Shadowmoon valley. I skipped any quest that took me to Netherwing Ledge, such as
To Netherwing Ledge! (a quest my scout died on due to meeting a patrolling, flying NPC with Aimed Shot) and
Divination: Gorefiend's Armor. I also skipped the Horde only vehicle quest
The Fel and the Furious. Despite completing this the first time with no issues on my scout, something told me the quest could bug out and I abandoned it and tried it again. Sure enough, the quest does bug out badly, causing you to be mobbed without giving you the ability to protect yourself, in a way that not even a high levelled Ironman post squish can feel safe. I was able to do most group quests, but I didn't even attempt
Battle of the Crimson Watch, a stand alone 5 person quest my scout died several times trying to complete. I also skipped
The Cypher of Damnation, even though I probably could have done it, because it was the last quest I had to do in the zone, it was a 5 man group quest, one that relies on NPCs keeping aggro, by this point not worth a lot of XP, and, I decided, not worth the risk just in case anything does go wrong. Of all the quests I skipped, this is the one I probably would have been safest braving.
Just a note to anyone who might ever read this for guidance, even if you do brave visiting Netherwing Ledge during To Netherwing Ledge and survive, the quest
Zuluhed the Whacked, where you're supposed to free Karynaku, summons two whole lines full of Aimed Shot wielding NPCs. I believe a lot of Irons have died during this quest - I know my scout did several times.
By the time I was done in Shadowmoon, a combination of questing and dailies had taken me all the way to level 78. That means Outland took me from 61 to 78, and really only from 78 onwards did the dailies become worth so little XP that they weren't worth doing anymore. Still, the Shattered Sun Offensive is a godsend, and probably why I was able to remain in Outland for so long, and I even visited the island two more times after I was done getting any serious XP from them so that I could become exulted and grab a Tabard of the Shattered Sun. (It's white quality and has no extra benefits so it's OK).
On to Northrend. My first task was to obtain a
Brunnhildar Bow. I was surprised to realize I'd have to do a few quests at my level first before the NPC would be friendly and sell it to me. At this point I was so used to being a far higher level than everything else, and being able to one-shot mobs, having to be extra careful all of a sudden, and the fact that I hadn't scouted these quests, was quite nerve wracking. That said, the quests were quite easy, I probably erred on the side of caution, and before long the bow was mine.
My second task was to start the Argent Crusade dailies. I couldn't scout these, as none of my scouts were a high enough level to begin them, but I used to do Argent Crusade dailies all the time when I was trying to collect the pets and mounts, so I knew and know what they involve. I decided against attempting any quests that involve fighting or taking risks for the time being, and at first only did the jousting practice quests and the
Get Kraken! daily, a quest I love because it's risk free and, if you kill the Kraken, you get an extra quest:
Identifying the Remains.
After that, I went on to Borean Tundra. Again, a combination of questing and dailies (with the Midsummer Dailies now thrown in) took me to level 80. As I didn't have as many dailies, and as Borean Tundra quests weren't giving me huge amounts of XP especially from level 79 yet were still difficult, (well difficultish - no one shot kills so they just took a lot of time and I had to be careful) this was pretty slow going.
At 80 I decided to explore the Cata zones that I could - excluding Deepholm and Vashj'ir, because I wasn't sure if I could get there safely, and had no level appropriate scouts to check. (On reflection, I probably could have just flown to Vashj'ir from Dun Morogh providing I keep high - but it's too late to worry about that now.) I also finally cashed in the Midsummer Fires. This took me to 81 with 2 fires to spare.
Back to Borean Tundra where, after a couple of quests, it became very clear that I was wasting my time there. The zone was now grey to me, so I parked off in Argent Crusade, where I'm comfortable doing other dailies and not just the "safe" ones at level 81, and spent some time focusing on my Loremaster/scouting. Argent Crusade dailies are not, unfortunately, like the Shattered Sun Offensive dailies. There's not nearly as many. I also remember struggling particularly with
At the Enemy's Gates when I was trying to collect mounts on my main, (and my main must have been at least level 85, if not 90 at the time) so I won't touch it on my Iron.
I can't remember exactly how much XP I gained in Dragonblight, (probably half a level) or what quests I skipped if any, but I do remember it being quite obvious. I can say that, at 81, Dragonblight is an easy enough zone, especially if you've scouted and are familiar with the quests - I even got the Might of Dragonblight achievement. Howling Fjord was, of course, like Borean Tundra - not even worth doing. I will say my Loremaster character never encountered the one group of Howling Fjord NPCs that have Aimed Shot and are only hostile to the Horde - even though I looked. By the time I was ready to attempt Grizzly Hills, I was level 83 and, again, the XP I was getting just wasn't worth the time it takes to do quests. (Right now my policy is if I'm earning under 1000xp for quests, they're not worth doing.) So I headed to Zul'Drak.
This is the zone where everyone talks about the quest
Betrayal. (You even mention it, gnumbers). Funnily enough, I had no trouble at all with it on my scout, (and I used my mage, the one character I have that's squishier than my Iron), but I had decided early on to mostly skip that questline on my Iron. There's a few pitfalls - a vehicle quest that seems to glitch out for some people sometimes, the fact that you rely on a disguise that can fall away at any time, and, of course, the fact that you have to go to a high up place. I have a special talent for falling off any edge, a fact I reflected on as my mage slipped through a hole in Voltarus and plummeted to her death. So I stopped the questline from
Infiltrating Voltarus. Of course I also skipped the vehicle quest
The Storm King's Vengeance, as well as any and all of the
Ampitheater of Anguish quests. I don't think I skipped anything else though.
There is one type of mob in Zul'Drak, Enchanted Tiki Warriors, who you have to kill for two quests. (
Enchanted Tiki Warriors and
Hexed Cashes - sometimes when opening a cache you get a curse that can be removed by Tiki Hex Removers, which the Tiki Warriors carry - needless to say I wouldn't open a cache without a hex remover on hand) Even one-shotting them, they managed to get a certain spell on me first sometimes, which would, for a few seconds, reduce all my stats by 40%. This would mean my maximum health would drop for a few seconds, and then suddenly go back, leaving me with just over half a bar of health. The first time this happened, it gave me heart failure, but once I realised what was going on, I didn't have any issues.
All in all Zul'Drak was a good zone, and it provided me with half a level.
On to Scholazar Basin.
The Hemet Nesingwary quests were easy, even the vehicle quest
Post-partum Aggression at the end. That said, in general, I've grown to have a special loathing for vehicle quests and will usually avoid them, despite usually being pretty good at them, as I've found they all to easily glitch out. If a vehicle quest risks dropping me in the middle of a swarm of mobs, I won't do it. If a vehicle quest risks dropping me from a height, I wont do it. This is why I didn't do
Reconnaissance Flight, even though the quest itself seems easy. The idea of being in a plane that's on fire and something goes wrong.... At this point it's just not worth the risk.
Talking of quests that aren't worth the risk, I also stopped at
Returned Sevenfold. (Another quest that you mentioned, gnumbers.) Yes, if I do it right, it's easy as anything, but if something, ANYTHING, goes wrong, I'm dead. At this level, gambles like that are just not something I'm going to make, so that's where I put an end to the Freya quests. Besides, there's not many of them, and they end in a dreaded vehicle quest, (
Reclamation) so it's no great loss.
Yeah, right now I'm almost ridiculously paranoid and will avoid almost anything if I think there's even the slightest risk of it killing me. I'd rather be paranoid and alive than a risk taker and dead. Sadly this does mean progression is fairly slow. Then again, not as slow as it would take if I slip up and have to start all over again.
Frenzyheart/Oracles quests. Someone on wowhead pointed out that, when you get to
Fortunate Misunderstandings, your faction rep changes suddenly, and you become friendly with the Oracles and hated with the Frenzyheart. This shouldn't be an issue unless you happened to select an injured Rainspeaker Oracle that's too close to the Frenzyheart camp. Then it's a very big issue. No one wants to be mobbed by elites who suddenly hate you on an Iron. I sided with the Oracles. Their quests + dailies took me to level 84, which is where I am now.
Next on the agenda: Storm Peaks, followed by Icecrown. Both are very large zones, especially Icecrown, so they'll probably take some time to finish.