0.3.3

For players#

• Westfall: if a Harvest Watcher or Golem dropped you the Precessive Autocognition Assembly, the Saldean's Farm step waits again until you hand Harvesting the Harvesters to Ozwin Ironsprocket, instead of moving on without it; without the Assembly it still does not wait (thanks Smuve, #298).
• Horde Stranglethorn Vale: the tip for the last trophy skulls says they are a short walk west, not a short ride, since you get there before riding at level 40 (thanks Pynte, #404).
• Without a known flight path, the route from Tarren Mill to Brill no longer walks through Alterac Mountains and Western Plaguelands: every stretch of a long walk now counts the zones far above your level it passes, not only the ones in its middle (thanks dogoku, #566).
• On top of Teldrassil, the route to Darnassus walks in through its gate instead of down to Rut'theran Village for the portal back up: when no walk reaches a portal's entrance, the route leaves that portal out (thanks EpicTibbles for the report and Patrick for the fix, #568).
• With Grow upward, the guide window stops at the top of the screen instead of moving down when a long step doesn't fit above it, so its bottom edge (and the bar, with Bar at the bottom) stays where you put it; the step's goals scroll, as they do past the maximum height, until there is room again (thanks thmastin and Deadshot0330, #666).
• Westfall: at Sentinel Hill the guide again takes the quests at the top of the tower before Thor's flight path at the foot of the hill, instead of sending you down for the flight path first and back up (thanks TP1186, #727).
• Gear advice no longer calls a better weapon a downgrade for an Orc Hunter because the old one is an axe: Axe Specialization (and the Human and Dwarf weapon racials) now count for Hunters and casters only as much as they fight in melee (thanks jtac, #833).
• Dungeon pages show the XP from Polestar's own quest database: about 50 quests, in dungeons like Ragefire Chasm and the Ruins of Lordaeron, showed less than it says, and their level and chain totals came out low too (thanks mcclaskiem, #837).
• Zephras Isle no longer sends you to Dondallion Whisperwind to hand in The Missing Scholar: Fillion Flamebreeze, who stands beside him, takes it (thanks Visur, #848).
• The Ruins of Lordaeron pick-up guide no longer sends you to Deathguard Kristof for The Wrath of Rath'mael before he offers it: it takes you to Deathguard Linnea for the Rear Guard Patrol chain first (thanks Pilk, #849).
• An NPC's or object's lookup no longer sends you to a spot it was seen at only once or twice, far from where it usually is: a group of two spots or fewer is left out when the main group is at least four times bigger (vendors and other services, and mailboxes, still show every spot). Riptear in Tirisfal Glades now leads to the north-east, where he roams (thanks Pilk, #852).
• Before handing in a quest whose work along the way is still open (Legging It, The Battleboars and many more), the arrow now leads to that work instead of the quest giver, and the turn-in says its objectives are still open (thanks Bill, #853, and striderZA, #862).
• The walk to an NPC only Forever has now ends on that NPC's floor in stacked places like the Undercity: Tanis Alderwood's turn-in in Tyr's Watch leads down to the Trade Quarter, not up the lift to the ruins (thanks Engholm, #855).
• Quests where you talk to people, like Desperate Times on Zephras Isle, now say "Talk to" and move on when you do; steps no longer ask for kills the quest doesn't count (The Cult of the Damned's Darkhounds) (thanks Visur, #859).
• Ruins of Lordaeron pick-up guide: The New Plague is taken from Theodore Griffs once the A Recipe For Death chain is handed in, not before, when he does not offer it yet (thanks Pilk, #867).
• No more "action blocked" error from the quest item button during a fight: the button now skips its range check on an enemy target while you are in combat (thanks for the report, #871).
• Silverpine Forest: Watching the Roads is taken from Shadow Priest Allister once you hand him Dalaran's Intentions, not on the first Sepulcher visit, when he does not offer it yet (thanks DexeeXI, #872).
• Curing the Sick and Are We There, Yeti?: the goal now says to use the Curative Animal Salve on the deer or gazelles, and Umi's Mechanical Yeti beside Legacki, Sprinkle and Quixxil, instead of "Kill" (thanks Bennistrov)
• Tyr's Watch and Redemption (Forsaken paladins): the last step now says Danitha Morr is back upstairs in Bandarion Keep, after Deathguard Billmuth downstairs (thanks SUBDUBBUB, #874).
• Filling a phial, flask or waterskin now moves the guide on by itself: the Crystal Phial at the Teldrassil moonwell and about forty steps like it (the Druid, Mage and Shaman water quests and the Shaman saptas among them) no longer wait for you to tick the use off (thanks Phear, #875).
• Silverpine Forest: the Orgrimmar stop takes Whuut's the Rush from Yelmak after Yelmak's Medley is handed in to Kor'geld, when Yelmak offers it, not straight after taking the Medley (thanks DexeeXI, #891).
• Wetlands and Stormwind: Crocs of the Sky is taken from James Halloran when you hand him Apprentice's Duties, and The Shamed Lieutenant from Lord Grayson Shadowbreaker once you hand him A Friend of the Family, not before they offer them.
• The Barrens: Northwatch Hold's captain, cannoneers and medals come first, then you free Gilthares Firebough, whose escort walks straight back to Ratchet, instead of taking the escort along through the hold (thanks DexeeXI, #907).
• Night Elf Druids in Darkshore train in Stormwind as they get off the boat, instead of walking to Goldshire, back to Stormwind and back again. The same rule sends Horde Paladins heading to Orgrimmar from Felwood to their trainer in Brill before the zeppelin (thanks Snowiee, #912).
• A goal inside a cave that you aim at before reaching the guide's way in (Frosthowl in the Grizzled Den) now leads you along the walking path to it, instead of pointing straight at it from the hill above (thanks joshvette001, #914).
• A dungeon's "pick up the quests" guide lists a long quest chain from its first quest: the Deadmines guide starts Alba Fairmoon's chain at Testing the Wells, before The State of the Mines (thanks rockzors, #918).
• Darkshore and Ashenvale: The Sleeper Has Awakened is taken from Kerlonian Evershade on the way south to Ashenvale, right before his chest and the escort to Maestra's Post, instead of hours earlier on the Darkshore visit, so the 25-minute Horn of Awakening is still there for the escort (thanks Fyurie, #920).
• Darkshore: the "Level 20" grind leads to the Elder Darkshore Threshers on the northern coast, not to the lower Darkshore Threshers by Auberdine. A grind's arrow now always goes to the mob the step names (thanks lax, #924).
• A follow-up is taken from the NPC you just handed its quest to again, before the guide sends you to anyone else: Captain Vimes from the Theramore Lieutenant before the walk up to Lady Jaina (Stranglethorn Vale), The Atal'ai Exile from Fel'zerul before Dar (Feralas, Horde), Letter to Jin'Zil from Darsok before the Tauren Druids' and Warlocks' hand-ins at the Crossroads (The Barrens), and the class letters from Rorian before Falorne and Elatrell (Zephras Isle, Alliance) (thanks Zepheriel, #310).
• Darkshore: the Auberdine step now says Wizbang Cranktoggle (Buzzbox 827) stands upstairs in the inn; the arrow alone stopped on the ground floor below him.
• Bags: items in the reagent bag slot are no longer skipped. Junk you marked there can be the bag button's cheapest junk and is sold at a vendor, and the warning before selling a quest item covers that bag too. Its free slots still don't count toward your free bag space, since it holds only reagents (thanks Tazul, #946).
• The Barrens: Warlocks are no longer sent from Regthar Deathgate into Stonetalon Mountains and straight back with nothing to do there. Your quests with Ken'zigla in Malaka'jin come later in the guide, as before (thanks Rohkin, #947).
• Rogue (Certificate of Thievery): the guide ends when Lucius takes the token back. Horns of Nez'ra is not in the game on Forever (Arantir never offers it), so the guide no longer sends you to Arantir for it, and the quest is gone from Polestar's quest data (thanks Erá, #948).
• Steps that only said to finish a quest now show its objectives when they are plain ones: the Venture Co. workers and supervisors in Mulgore, Fizsprocket's clipboard, the Crystal Pylons in Un'Goro, the Eggs of Onyxia, Salfa's beads, Mankrik's wife, the Zephras Isle talks, and the Symbol of Life on Henze and Narm Faulk and the meat for Kyle. The guide window gives each one its target, where it is and its progress from your quest log.
• The Barrens: Mankrik's Bristleback tusks are collected while you kill the Bristlebacks for Mangletooth's Tribes at War, not in the same camps before you reach Camp Taurajo. Mankrik's wife is still found on the walk south (thanks Rohkin, #957).
• Quest givers on an upper floor: the steps now say to go up for Dendrite Starblaze in Nighthaven, Beetix and Noggle Ficklespragg at Cenarion Hold, Ginro Hearthkindle at Feathermoon, Daryn Lightwind in Rut'theran Village, Gaerolas Talvethren in Starbreeze Village, Priestess Josetta and Zaldimar Wefhellt in Goldshire's inn, Khelden Bremen in Northshire Abbey, Neeka Bloodscar in Kargath, Primal Torntusk in Revantusk Village, and the steps at Captain Stoutfist, Gazlowe and "Sea Wolf" MacKinley that did not say so yet. The arrow alone stopped on the floor below them.
• Class trainers upstairs: the training steps in Northshire (#961: Mages were led outside the Abbey instead of up to Khelden Bremen), Goldshire's inn (priest, mage and rogue trainers), Brill's inn (mage, priest, warlock and rogue trainers) and Aldrassil (every trainer is up the tree's ramp) now say to go up.
• Leveling guides: the guides no longer have "Hearth to ..." steps. The arrow tells you when hearthing is the quicker way to the next stop, so you can hearth or walk, and the guide just takes you to the next stop. Guides still tell you where to set your Hearthstone (thanks Fitz).
• Badlands: the Rock Elemental Shards for the Badlands Reagent Run are collected at Agmond's End with Lotwil's rock elementals, not at Hammertoe's Digsite, where no rock elementals live.
• Stranglethorn Vale (Horde): the Bloody Bone Necklaces are finished at the Ruins of Zul'Kunda, after the ears and shrunken heads that send you back to the same Bloodscalp trolls, instead of all 25 at Nesingwary's camp (the same pattern as Rohkin's #957).
• Travel tips no longer send you on flights you can't take where you stand. Seventeen tips from older versions of the routes named a flight path you hadn't learned yet (Ratchet in Ratchet's and Un'Goro's Alliance steps, Talonbranch Glade, Zoram'gar Outpost, the Undercity and Tarren Mill, Stormwind for Humans in Westfall) or a flight from a town you weren't in (Thunder Bluff, Valormok, Shadowprey, Cenarion Hold). Each now says how the guide really gets you there.
• Guides no longer send you into areas far above your level. Redridge Mountains leaves out Galardell Valley: Lieutenant Fangore (level 26), Solomon's Law and the Old Lion Statue among the 22-26 gnolls, and Bellygrub (24), all at about level 21 (thanks Fyurie on Discord, #977). The Mirage Raceway in Thousand Needles (Alliance) and from Ashenvale (Horde) leaves out the Gazers, the tortoise shells and the vulture bones (32-35 at 30), Feralas leaves out Wandering Shay among the level 49 harpies, and the Eastern Plaguelands trip of the Horde's Un'Goro Crater guide leaves out the optional Invader's Scourgestones (57 at 52). Elwynn's Croaky's Head (a level 11 elite) is asked for only when you group for it, and the Rogues' Venture Co. tower shows from level 23.
• Cure Poison (Druid): Alliance Skyborne take Lessons Anew from Mathrengyl Bearwalker in Darnassus (Teleport: Moonglade, then the druids' flight to Rut'theran Village), not from Alfina Nightgaze west of Dalaran, who doesn't offer it and was a dangerous walk through Alterac at level 14 (thanks Nikil Kuruvilla, #978).
• Along the way lists only what the walk really passes. A list opens where its mobs are, not as soon as the quest is taken, and one whose walk mostly misses them is an ordinary goal at the stop with most of them near, its note saying where: Darkshore's Fine Crab Chunks are collected at Cliffspring Falls among the crabs instead of being listed from Auberdine for ten stops; 35 lists in 29 leveling guides change this way (thanks Fitz).
• The quest automation toggles, "Accept guide quests" and "Turn in guide quests", are now under Options → Quality of Life → Quests and Options → Questing → Quests (one setting, shown in both), next to the other questing helpers. Hold Shift still skips them once.
• The guide window reads one person at a time: the person to talk to now shows in full, every other person of the step is one line ("Then: Rejold Barleybrew · 1 hand-in, 2 quests"; a click lists their goals), and big hubs show three of them and "+ N more people". Finished goals fold away into a "✓ 3 done" line instead of piling up, and the window stops at half the screen and scrolls past that (Options > Guide > Window: "Maximum height", and "Show the whole step" for the full list). "Along the way" no longer repeats goals the step already lists (thanks Phear for the report, and Totowora, whose pull request for hiding finished goals, #903, helped shape the fold).
• The class-quest card's "New weapon" or "New ability" badge no longer crowds the quest's name: the name starts below it.
• The class-quest card no longer shows for an ability you already know, and its tick box works.
• The class-quest card only shows for quests that really are for your class. Stalk With The Earthmother is now a Miscellaneous guide for Tauren of every class, and the library book Magma or Lava? is for every class.
• A class-quest card's route (Ironforge › Stormwind City › Loch Modan) no longer shows boxes between the places: the game's font has no arrow, so the card uses a chevron.
• Enable "Click objectives to target" in Questing options under Buttons to target an objective's NPC when clicking its row outside combat. It uses the existing "Mark what they target" toggle and mob/NPC icons. This is off by default; normal arrow navigation and completion controls keep working. A failed search shows which NPC was not found nearby (thanks codyharris91).
• Polestar Client: What we send has an Already sent tab, so you can look back at exactly what the last 8 days' uploads held as well as what's about to go.
• Polestar Client: the window can be made larger, so a tiling window manager (Hyprland, Sway, i3) can tile it. It opens at its usual size (smaller only on a screen too small for it), can't be made smaller than that, and does not maximize (#902, thanks petllama).
• Polestar Client no longer says World of Warcraft is running when only an addon manager such as WowUp is open.
• Human priests are no longer sent to Priestess Josetta in Goldshire for Desperate Prayer, which she doesn't offer them in Forever, or to Stormwind to hand it in. They still take Divine Grace from her (thanks Dingus, #844).
• Dun Morogh (Dwarf): in the Thunderbrew Distillery you train last again, after Ragnar, Tannok and Maxan, since some classes' trainers stand outside (thanks thmastin).
• Dungeon pages color quest rewards the way the game's tooltip does: Axe of Orgrimmar and others showed green while the game says blue (thanks mcclaskiem).
• Stranglethorn Vale and Badlands: Gnome Warlocks learn Ratchet's flight path at the boat to Booty Bay, so their Felsteed trip at 44 flies from Theramore to Ratchet instead of walking there. Found while checking every guide for flight paths passed by and needed later, after TP1186's Sentinel Hill report (#727).
• Silverpine Forest: Tauren and Skyborne Druids learn Orgrimmar's flight path when they step off the zeppelin and fly from there to Thunder Bluff for their training and back, instead of walking to Ratchet's flight master and back.
• Stranglethorn Vale: Gnomes, Night Elves and Skyborne take the boat from Ratchet to Booty Bay before the guide asks for the flight to Darkshire.
• The Barrens, Stonetalon Mountains and Ashenvale (Horde): class training steps no longer ask you to fly to Orgrimmar or Thunder Bluff while you are already standing there, and Druids no longer train twice in one Thunder Bluff visit. Found while checking every guide's flights.
• Group play, only with party members who also run Polestar: on joining a party Polestar says a small hidden hello, and syncs with whoever answers; friends without Polestar see and get nothing more. Party sync is now on by default (turn it off under Options > Questing > Quests > Group), and the first Polestar member found says so once: if you had it off before, this update turns it on once, since up to v0.3.2 that choice wasn't stored; from now on, turned off, it stays off. When you finish an objective such a member on the same quest still needs, the step and its turn-in wait for them ("Waiting on Ana: 3/8 Boar Ribs", then "Everyone's ready") and the arrow leads to what they still need; a member in another zone or offline for over 2 minutes doesn't hold you, and "Go on without them" moves on. A Share button on a quest you have that they lack, with the reason when they can't take it; a party panel (click the party line or /polestar party) with each one's level, step and what they still need; and "Ana still needs 2" on collect goals and on loot they need and you don't.
• Guide tabs are easier to close: the close button on each tab of the guide window shows faintly instead of hiding until you point at it, and the cards under Continue on the guide menu's Home have their own close button (and a right-click menu to close or move the tab; Y with a gamepad). Continue now shows one row of cards, your current tab first, then the ones you used last, with "Show all" for the rest (thanks to a player's question on Discord).
• Hearthing is no longer a step of its own. A step that only says to hearth is passed over and no longer numbered, and the arrow's travel line suggests the Hearthstone for any target when it is clearly worth its cooldown: the trip without it takes at least 8 minutes and hearthing saves at least 5. The line says what it saves ("Hearth to Sentinel Hill: saves 6 min"), and the button under the arrow casts it. A 2-minute walk to the inn keeps your Hearthstone (thanks Fitz, from his in-game note on Westfall's "Hearth to Sentinel Hill").
• Hiding the guide now also hides the action buttons (quest item, Hearthstone, travel, target, rare and bag) and the rare and transport alerts, and showing it brings them back. The arrow stays unless you turn on "Hide the arrow with the guide" (Options, Guide, Arrow & routes), and the arrow back to your corpse or a Spirit Healer always shows (thanks rohkin).
• The "Looking ahead" and "Looking back" banner closes with its Dismiss button again; it stays closed on that step, and another step shows its own.
• Dungeons: "Guide me through it" builds the Alliance Onyxia attunement (Drakefire Amulet) again, and Lookup shows the racial mounts (sabers, rams, horses, wolves and the rest) as sold by their vendor, no longer as needing the other races' Exalted (#785).
• Polestar's marks on the minimap no longer hide your own arrow: a mark over it fades so the arrow shows through, and comes back in full once you walk off it. Appearance › Arrow › Map icons has a new Minimap icon size setting for smaller (or bigger) minimap marks (thanks Fitz).
• Mulgore starts with Grull Hawkwind, who stands beside you at Camp Narache, before Chief Hawkwind in the big tent, as it did before 0.3.0.
• Nearby services: the vendor page finds the nearest general goods vendor (/polestar near general, or goods). Thanks Yendi.
• Nearby services: Vendor opens a page to find the nearest vendor of food and drink, arrows, bullets, or bows and guns (the ammunition and weapons only for classes that use them), and the arrow names the vendor's trade ("Keina (Bowyer)"). Profession trainers the data listed as vendors, such as Fanorran Stilloak at the Night Elf start, are no longer offered as vendors. Thanks Yendi.
• Nearby services: Mailbox points the arrow at the nearest mailbox of your side (/polestar near mailbox, or mail). Thanks Yendi.
• A step no longer lists the same mob or item twice: Brewnall Village in Dun Morogh had the boars and leopards once as "on the way" and once more below, Elwynn's river step had the Prowlers and bears up to three times, and Andorhal's silos step had the Temporal Displacer three times. Each is one line now (#843, thanks Phear).
• Open Sans can now be chosen as the font, with any look, under Look > Color & type (thanks RikyZ90, #923). The default stays the game's font.
• In a party, Polestar tells the group in party chat when you finish one of a quest's objectives ("[Polestar] Finished: Plagued Hide 5/5 - [Plagued Lands]") and when the quest is ready to turn in, with the quest's link, so friends see your progress whatever addon they run. Never solo or in a raid, nothing for what was already done when you log in, reload or join, and never the same line twice. It is on by default; the first line says once where to turn it off (Options > Questing > Quests > Group, "Tell my party in chat when I finish a quest objective").
• Items a quest still needs get a yellow "?" in your bags, and their tooltip names the quest, until you hand it in. That covers quests in your log and quests your guide has ahead for your character that you have not accepted yet (the tooltip shows how many you carry). Deleting such an item adds "Needed for: <quest>" to the game's confirmation. Sell one at a vendor and Polestar asks whether to buy it back, and its own automatic sale of gray items keeps it (thanks jaff and thmastin). The marks and the buyback question have their own settings under Questing; hiding the marks keeps the other protections.
• Brazilian Portuguese: the 246 interface texts still in English are translated (bag space and junk, restock, characters, class quest cards, party sync, Hearthstone advice, the Recorder's chat lines).
• Options → Quality of Life now also holds the other conveniences: instant quest text, skipping gossip, faster auto-loot, hiding combat errors and the game's quest tracker, taking and wearing the best reward, the quest item button and the step key, the Hearthstone and travel buttons, transport alerts, nearby services, trainer reminders, the minimap button and coordinates. Each is still on its old page too, as the same setting. The settings search is forgiving: it finds a setting from a misspelled or half-typed word, words run together ("autoaccept"), other words for the same thing ("fps", "junk", "minimap icon") and English on a translated client, puts the best match first, and when nothing matches it suggests the closest settings.
• The quest log cleanup is easier to find: the guide window's menu shows "Clean up quest log (4)" while there are quests to clear, and Options has a button for it under Questing > Quests. It now also lists quests that have gone gray and give no experience any more, unless the route still hands them in later in the same guide (thanks to a player's suggestion on Discord).
• The Recorder also notes the herbs, ore, fishing pools and locked chests you gather, with where they stand and the skill you had; how big your group is when you kill, level and turn in (never who is in it); when a creature you killed comes back; quests that failed; and when the game refuses something for a requirement (a level, an item, a quest, a skill), by the game's own message name, never its text. Polestar Client shows all of it under What we send. It reaches the database once Polestar Client is updated.
• Settings search finds a single Chinese, Korean or Cyrillic character inside a setting's name. Short English fragments still stay out of unrelated words, so "lag" does not match "flag".
• Silithus, Felwood, Winterspring & the Plaguelands (Alliance): after Umber's and Rabine Saturna's quests in Moonglade, the guide takes Nighthaven's flight path right there and flies on to Rut'theran Village, instead of hearthing to Cenarion Hold, flying to Rut'theran and coming back into Moonglade for the flight path (thanks Fitz).
• Teldrassil has you hand your class sigil to your trainer again on the visit to Aldrassil after Shadowthread Cave, when you train, rather than at level 2 with nothing to learn and a walk back to Conservator Ilthalaine (thanks Pynte).
• A "complete the quest" goal in the guide window no longer reads just "Complete Plagued Lands": it shows the quest's own objectives with their counts ("Rabid Thistle Bear Captured 0/1"), starting with "Use Tharnariun's Hope:" while the item the quest gave you is in your bags. Looked at ahead, before you have the quest, it shows what the quest asks for.
• A person with goals before and after someone else's in a step (Thundris Windweaver in Auberdine) is listed once in the guide window while you talk to them: their later quest shows with them, not on a second line.
• An object that starts two quests and is named like one of them (Auberdine's WANTED poster) no longer heads the other quest with that title: the guide window names it from the guide's note, or calls it the object here.
• The guide window shows only your character's steps: another class's or race's steps (a Druid's Moonglade trip for a Mage) and the "on the way" steps (Darkshore's Fine Crab Chunks) are never paged to and no longer count in "Step N / M", the progress, Up next, the map's numbered pins or the bug report (idea and first version by aronjanosch, #954). Their goals done on the way stay under "Along the way" of the steps that follow, which now says until which step ("Along the way, until step 30"), and the arrow no longer leads to them when you page through.
• Looking ahead at a step that depends on what you do (Elwynn's Goldshire hand-in of Book Return, for a group) no longer shows just its title when it holds nothing for you yet: the guide window says why in one line, such as "Only if you do Book Return with a group".
• On the Horde Zephras Isle start, Warriors, Rogues and Hunters hand their class letter to the trainer at the Thendal Village turn-ins, where they train, again, rather than at level 2 with nothing to learn.

For contributors#

• Forge's writer engine tests on full local data (POLESTAR_V1 set, --include-ignored) keep one copy of the data per running test instead of one per test run so far: a whole run peaks at about 1 GB with one test thread (2.4 GB with four), down from about 14 GB.
• Translations: forge i18n audit holds the interface and guide texts against the client's own names for spells, talents, areas, skill lines and talent tabs, and lists each text that leaves the client's name out. Read only.
• RELEASING.md's smoke test command runs the release tests again: they are the release:: tests of the addontest target, not a release target.