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Comment by 5972

Plans are outside the mill, not inside at 66, 51 (map: https://www.wowhead.com/classic/object=19602).

The wagon to blow up is at 65, 54.

Comment by 8714

Covert Ops Alpha - The wagon is in front of the mill on a small hill. It sits by itself and has some firework looking things on top. For those with Cosmos or map coordinates, the mill is at 66,50. There are two loggers close to it, so take them out. Then attach the explosives, blow it up, and run along the bottom of the hill towards the mill. Not all of the Venture guys will leave, but that's okay. The plans are on the west/left side of the mill, on a tree stump. It looks like a piece of rolled-up parchment. I shifted to cat from as soon as it blew, prowled over to the parchment, shifted up, grabbed it, and ran out with only 1 aggro - Deforester - to take care of behind the mill.

After you finish it, you can check out the next part and the next set of directions here:

https://www.wowhead.com/classic/quest=1080

Good luck :)

Comment by skyoverheaven

I just wanted to note that when doing this quest, you don't actually need to use the explosives/detonator -- but it's kind of fun, so do it anyway. The quest items are right out in plain sight, so all the explosives do is make it easier for you to go in and grab the item needed. So if you were like me and detonated the explosives and then wondered what the heck to do next (I was searching in the wrong area, eep!), have no fear, you can just clear the mobs the old fashioned way and nab the quest item.

This is fairly straight forward. You can see the lumber mill from the entrance of Windshear Crag, and right in front of it is a small wagon of explosives. Kill any mobs near the wagon then set the blue explosives (by right clicking on the blue explosives in your bags). There's no timer on the explosives, so don't feel like you have to rush out as soon as you place it.

To the left of the front of the lumber mill (looking from the wagon) is a crate with a clickable item -- these are the plans you need. Move away a bit from the wagon, edging up to the crate -- but not too far as the detonator has a pretty small radius to work (I think like 20 yards). When you're ready, use your blue detonator (click it in your bags) and the wagon of explosives will... well, explode. The mobs in the mill will run out to see what's going on -- unfortunately, it's mostly the mobs from the front/inside, and this doesn't help much as the mobs you want are on the left. But it's less to clear, so clear the 2-3 mobs left around the crate, zip in, snag the quest item, and zip out before the crowd comes back to the mill. Personally, I think the explosives sort of complicate things more than needed, but explosions are always fun I suppose.

Comment by 22655

This is part of the long & fun quest chain originating from "On Guard in Stonetalon" (https://www.wowhead.com/classic/quest=1070) in Ashenvale.

Prerequisites for this quest are:
-Ineptitude + Chemicals = Fun (https://www.wowhead.com/classic/quest=1074)
-Special Delivery for Gaxim (https://www.wowhead.com/classic/quest=1077)

This quest leads to:
- Covert Ops - Beta (https://www.wowhead.com/classic/quest=1080)

Comment by Thottbot

Though you should keep some distance from the wagon, you must be CLOSE enough to the wagon to trigger that explosive =.=

Comment by Thottbot

Well, I tried to complete this. Beta was no problem. But Alpha won't work. It keeps saying "Needs Venture Co. Wagon (Blue)". Tried it alot of times but finally just abandoned it. I'd like to hear if anyone else was able to do this...

Comment by Thottbot

I had the same trouble for a while, but you have to be quite close to the wagon for it to work. btw, the plans are on top of a crate next to some books on the western entrance to the lumber mill

Comment by Thottbot

no success either.
I'm not able to place the charges.. :|

wrong wagon!
the right one is south-west of the lumber mill! really close to it in fact.

Comment by Thottbot

Both quests are easy enough if you know when and where to pull. I did both of them by myself. If you are a druid or rogue, the best thing to do is prowl around the areas so you can get a good idea of where people are, where the plans and letters are, and where to run.

Covert Ops Alpha - The wagon is in front of the mill on a small hill. It sits by itself and has some firework looking things on top. For those with Cosmos or map coordinates, the mill is at 66,50. There are two loggers close to it, so take them out. Then attach the explosives, blow it up, and run along the bottom of the hill towards the mill. Not all of the Venture guys will leave, but that's okay. The plans are on the west/left side of the mill, on a tree stump. It looks like a piece of rolled-up parchment. I shifted to cat from as soon as it blew, prowled over to the parchment, shifted up, grabbed it, and ran out with only 1 aggroed Deforester to take care of behind the mill.

Covert Ops Beta - This is a little more difficult than Alpha. The wagon for this one is on a small hill in front of the mine. The mine is located at about 74,58 or so. There are no guards on this wagon, just an operator, and he's far enough away where he won't aggro. Slightly behind the wagon there is a small hill. You can blow the wagon if you stand on that hill and keep the wagon to your right.

The letters for this one are on the right/east side of the mine entrance, on a tree stump. They look like a stack of books.

Here's the trick for Beta...the kobolds don't run when you blow the wagon. So, you need to kill some of them before setting the explosives. On the west side of the mine, there is another small hill with three kobolds wandering. Take them out. On the east side of the mine, along the ridge, there are two other kobolds. Take them out too. There is another kobold closer to the letters, but if you attack him you'll draw the attention of everyone else, so leave him alone.

Run over to the wagon (don't let anyone see you!) and set the explosives. Get over to the hill and set them off, then take off running. Head over the hill where you killed the first kobolds, then turn to the mine and get the plans. Then run AWAY from the mine (I went to the east, along the cliffs). The kobold you didn't kill will most likely aggro, but if you stop to kill him the rest of the Venture guys will be back and aggro. Just make sure your health is full and run along the cliffs. He stops giving chase soon.

Good luck, and I hope this helps!

Comment by Thottbot

yes - quite helpful!

The first (blue) wagon is almost directly south of the mill across the stream/river.

And there IS a wagon in between the lumber mill & the mine that isn't for either. That's what can be confusing for folks.

Anoel

Comment by Thottbot

Thanks to Mirielle for her wonderfully-detailed approach to the problem. I followed her instructions to the letter, sort of. In the case of Alpha, a great explosion and I ran around to the left of the wagon. Everyone ran out of the mill right at me. I think fourteen Venture Co. goons attacked me at once. My 24 Druid managed to hold them off for about 2 nanoseconds. Hmmm. That didn't work, and no more explosives.

What did work is that I stealthed up to the "plans" side of the mill, tried to pull the closest goblin (he is a flamethrower and won't be pulled) then just attacked and killed him. Surprisingly, the others didn't aggro. I grabbed the plans and ran, at which point some of the others chased me but not seriously.

Comment by Thottbot

Thanks to Mirielle for her excellent description of the execution of this quest.

I couldn't remember exactly how I had done this before, so my 24 Druid stealthed up to the mill to check the location of the plans. They were guarded by three or four goblins, so I thought I might just try eliminating some of the entertainment committee before setting off any explosives. Leather armor guys quickly learn to kill the flamethrowers first and two more followed easily.

And that was that. Pick up the plans. Walk away. Wish Beta was that easy.

Seems to me that anyone who can pull a mob (sorry, Pallies) can handle this more easily by just knocking off the goblins near the plans rather than by taking the risk of having the explosives malfunction.

Comment by Thottbot

just talked to the npc which assigns this quest and I didn't receive any explosives... is this messed up? also, he said in the quest log to read the pages for more info... didn't get the pages. contacted GM, will see what is up.

Comment by Thottbot

Has anyone had a problem getting this quest from Gaxim? I am a level 29 Druid and have received other quests from Gaxim, but he does not give me these!

Comment by Thottbot

@catea
you have to do the other quests first
just finish them all and he will give alpha and beta to you
bye

Comment by Thottbot

Not really as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Just did it with my lvl 24 rogue. Just stealth until you find the documents. Then go to the wagon directly south of the mill and kill the two mobs that may be there. Plant your explosives and then run to the little island to the west. Hit your detonator and then hit stealth again. Walk up to the documents and "hide" on the outside of the building while you take the documents. I was able to do this without angering the mob right next to them. Stealthed right back out. Not bad for the xp involved. Didn't have to kill but two mobs.

Comment by Thottbot

Wat the hell with these both quest that pple complt bout?

This quest is so easy soloable at lvl 23mage. Dun bother bout the explosive and denonator...clear the monster and click on the letter and plan. That it. Sweeet and easy.

Hope u guy read this commment before trying to read the lengthy explaination above :P

Maybe there's a patch for the quest........

Comment by Thottbot

level 23 druid just pulled guys and killed em one by one for plans at mine. stealthed in at mill, didnt kill anybody, got plans and left. didnt even use explosives. no problem.

Comment by Thottbot

Just a little addition to the GREAT above explanation by Mirielle:
If you've got some kind of shiald (eg. Power Word: Shield, Sacrifice etc), then just blow up the wagon, run to the plans and use your shield. Then you wont get interrupted. Then grab the plans and RUN, RUN, RUN!

Comment by Thottbot

Sry, meant "shield".

Comment by Thottbot

...unless you have stealth and can locate the plans before setting off the wagons.

Otherwise, it's difficult or impossible to locate them in advance (without fighting your way in close enough which defeats the purpose of a "distraction") as the plans don't make your cursor turn into a gear until you're right on top of them anyway.

Which means you spend 50% of the (brief) time available fighting the 1-2 mobs that stayed behind, and the other 50% scrambling around looking for the plans, which you'll discover as the others are returning (on Alpha I was 90% done opening the #@$!& thing when an operator attacked me and thereby cancelled my action).

At which point you'll say @#$!& it, might as well just kill em all and eventually fish the stupid letters/plans from a sea of glittering corpses.

My advice - if you have stealth, do it as intended, or if you have cosmos go ahead and use the above instructions. If you're like me and have neither, then get 1-2 mates and fight your way in, and set off the fireworks after for a pretty light show.

Meh. 2/10.

Comment by Thottbot

yeah this quest seems like a mess to me.

I got in there with a lvl 21 druid, hit right-click to use the blue charges, then I tried using the blue detonator from all over the place, including right on top of the damn wagon, every time, I get "requires blue charges." this quest is easily the most frustrating and least fun of all the quests I've played in this entire game. the instructions are totally unclear, the plans pouch is easily missed, it's difficult to figure out what the hell you're supposed to be doing, and if you accidentally die while fidgeting about with the detonator like an idiot, it takes you forever to get to safety again.

I'm working on Alpha, probably just going to chuck it and steal the plans the old-fashioned way instead of messing around with this ridiculous, frustrating, total failure of an alleged distraction.

Comment by Thottbot

....just done this Q with a 'lock alt and it was a piece of cake.

I guess that it must have been fixed at last.

Comment by Thottbot

I didn't even use the explosives, I just killed a few loggers and got the documents both for alpha and beta part.

You have to get the explosives otherwise you can't get to this part of the quest, but you really don't need to waste time looking for the wagons and blow them up. Just look for the documents (coordinates already provided by other players)

Comment by Thottbot

Haha well there is one reason to use the explosives although its not really to distract the venture co...
But anyways here's what I did with them.

I'm in the alliance so walking into stonetalon I'm immediately alert to any horde that are around me (paranoid of ganking I guess haha). I'm not usually too keen to pvping so I generally walk in unflagged and just wave at any horde passing by so they know I'm there and that I'm not there to gank them (surely no ganker is going to give away that they're there).

Unfortunately while I was doing this quest that got a group of 5 blood elves (all around my level) to chase me and /spit. Now being the non-pvp minded person I am, if I'm not going to attack 1, I'm certainly not going to take on 5 so I just continue walking to the wagon full of explosives to do this quest. But they keep following me and /spitting me all the way to the explosive wagon and while I set up the explosive.

Now I don't know if any hordes know what that wagon is there for or if they ever use it. But surely if there's a person, sitting in front of a wagon full of explosives you gotta clue in, the guy is going to blow them. Unfortunately these hordes didn't and I waited for them to go away so they wouldn't get killed by the mob that would come. I told them "You guys might want to get out of here", but they stick around /spitting me and I remember that my messages are scrambled anyways. I point over the horizon to tell them to move away, but they're still standing. So I give up, wait for one last minute hoping that they'll move away, but that also runs out. So I detonate them.

like 20-30 venture company goons ran to the wagon I was sitting in front of. Since I knew what was going to happen I was already making my getaway, but I guess the blood elves behind me got confused by the explosion and stood there. While I run, I turn around to see if they clued in by the explosion to get away, and I see them getting hopelessly mobbed by the venture company goons. First they tried to take them on (a fruitless endeavour as they're all around the same level). Then I see them running... and dying.

So moral of this story. If you're horde and see an unflagged alliance person sitting in front of a wagon full of explosives, before you run in and /spit him/her think for a second. What would an alliance person be doing in front of a wagon full of explosives? Then realize that backing off is the wiser decision. If you're alliance, know there are other fun ways to use that explosive than simply doing the quest ;).

Comment by Thottbot

If you have placed a charge, and then you die - the charge may not be there when you get back.

I died many times of this quest, and if I died after placing the charge but before blowing it up, I had to go back and get a new charge.

(Note that this will produce the "need blue/red" message. It needs it because it vanished while you were dead.

--------------

If you fail to finish either Alpha or Beta for any reason and your charge is gone, you need to:

1. abandon the quest
2. destroy all of the stuff from the now-abandoned quest
3. get the quest again.

I found that if I didn't destroy all the old items, the backpack would not contain everything I needed, especially the explosive charges.

Comment by Thottbot

Every time i go to gaxim he doesnt have any quests left for me to take how do i get this?

Comment by Thottbot

66,51 for Alpha
74.59 for Beta,

U can pick the plans there . U dont even need to blast the bombs but U might need to clear the area.

Comment by Thottbot

I was able to use stealth to get both sets. The first time, by the mill I some how messed up setting the charged so I stealthed in and got the plans. At the mine I was able to set the charge correctly but had already stealthed in and got the plans! There is hope on this one!

Comment by Thottbot

Nice story LimeD :D, would have been greater if you blew them apart with the explosives :P

Mirielle posted some good advise some posts above. On both Alpha and Beta I'd suggest you read her post, so you know a bit where the plans are. Take some distance of both camps and locate the plans with your mouse. That way you won't lose time locating the plans, when you have detonated the explosives.

Comment by Thottbot

For those who could not set off the blue detonator: You're at the wrong wagon. I did the same thing. There is a wagon to the north of the lumber mill that is not used in the alpha or beta quest...it's just part of the scenery I guess. Go south of it and find the wagon that's just south of the lumber mill. That is the blue wagon for the Alpha quest!

Comment by Allakhazam

According to the previous posts, plans should be at 66,51. I have searched the ENTIRE area, even had to take out an Elite.

But NO PLANS anywhere. Any advice please.

Comment by Allakhazam

So...let's say a huntress gets impatient and decides to try to solo this one, and blows up the cart but then gets killed...are the plans something that only appear right after the explosion, or with a couple friends to clear the lumber mill area, could I possibly get in and loot the plans off of the crate without the explosion, as I'm not really sure how to go about redoing the part of the quest to get the explosives again.

Teory
Celestial Navigators
Whisperwind Server

Comment by Allakhazam

Too bad you can't use the bag for other things later. Would be nice to have a bag that fits inside of another bag.

Comment by Allakhazam

Ok, answered my own question. The plans are always there and the bomb just makes a "semi-handy" way of getting to the plans. There was still a fair bit of killin and dying involved but luckily there were two of us and handled it quite nicely at level 22. My only problem was that the next step after seems a bit unrelated - the Elf next to Gaxim sends you the Charred Vale to kill things that are around levels 26-28 so will be a bit before the 2 of us can continue on with the quest.

Comment by Allakhazam

The hardest part I found as a 25 hunter was finding the documents at the mill. They're not inside. They're outside on the west side, to the south end of the wall, on a crate. When you detonate the cart (should you need to do that, I did it just to see what it looked like) head to the left of the building.

Comment by Allakhazam

Here's the prereq quest:

Ineptitude + Chemicals = Fun

Comment by Allakhazam

When they say "Wagon" they don't mean the big iron tank with the saw and all? They mean the small wooden thing with all the dynamite stuff right?

I've been spending hours with this quest and didn't find out -.-

Bad

Comment by Allakhazam

Ok, I did the ineptitude+chemicals=fun quest, but for some reason he won't give me the covert ops quests. What's up?

Comment by Allakhazam

Did this easy as a 22 Rogue. Just stealthed up to the wagon, and set the charge. Had to fight one guy, but took him out easy. Then I got a little ways away and detonated. Stealthed up to the plans, grabbed them, and stealthed out.

Comment by Allakhazam

When you accept this quest a black bag will be placed in your inventory. This bag contains the instructions, as well as explosives and detonators for both Covert Ops A and Covert Ops B quests. To get these out of your bag you click on them, and accept the question asking if you want to bind them to you. This takes them from the bag and places them in your regular inventory to be used.

The wagon is on a hill south of the mill. You place the explosives on the wagon by getting close to it, then right-clicking on them.

Once placed, move to a hillock which is slightly east of a line between the wagon and mill, and about halfway in between. From here you can blow up the wagon and watch as most of the mill guards move to check it out. Once that's done, you can move in quickly to loot the plans.

Not all guards may leave, so this may best be done with a partner to help clean up the stragglers quickly before the other guards return from the wagon.

The plans themselves are found on top of a crate out front of the mill. They are just outside the south side of the building, west of the ramp that runs up into the building.

You get 2,200 exp for completing this quest.

Comment by Allakhazam

Presumably completing this quest leads to Covert Ops - Beta:

Covert Ops - Beta

Comment by Allakhazam

I've been chasing round looking for the guide to part B, can't find it. I managed to get Part A done without any problem after I died once to the Elite task master. (That'll teach me to shoot first without IDing the mob. Painful indeed.) Otherwise it was a cakewalk solo at 24 with my bow hunter n cat.

Sabre

Comment by Allakhazam

Because not everyone uses coordinates, and they aren't always good enough:

The Plans aren't actually in the mill; they are on a crate just outside the mill along the southwest opening, right beside the large sawblade.

Comment by Allakhazam

The wagon is at 65, 54.

The plans are at 66, 51.

When you set the explosives, back away from the wagon and move away from the logging camp. When you blow up the wagon, about a dozen Venture Co. personnel will run over to where the wagon was, which should allow you to run in and nab the plans.

Comment by Allakhazam

For this one, even I'm going over to the Beaner side and giving coordinates.

The "Venture Co. Engineering Plans" are at (66, 51), on toip of a crate at the western side of the sawmill.

The wagon is more like at (65, 53): more SSW of the mill than strictly south. You have to be in a certain radius of it for the detonator to work.

My experience with it was not good. First, I must have been in the path of the investigating minions, because one of them paused in his mad dash to the cart to start fighting me. His friends joined in after they had returned, and I went down.

OK, so I don't really want to retrieve my corpse, go back for more explosives, and try it again. I attempt to clear the area and grab the plans. Mistake number two. The mobs here are either linked, or are close enough so their hate range is overlapping. More deaths.

Finally I did succeed in clearing the place out, and grabbed the plans. Huz freakin' zah. Oh! And the cart doesn't highlight when you mouse over it, so you can't Myst your way around this quest.

Edited, May 17th 2007 12:09am by ClemSnide

Comment by Allakhazam

As stated under Ineptitude+chemicals=fun quest,
the thread continues with this and the Beta equivalent.

I had some trouble following Gaxims guidelines,
but found out, that you used the explosives on a
safe distance from the wagon, then without moving
used the detonator.
Not sure how far from the wagon it works but it must be in clear view from where you do the above.

Both this and the Beta equivalent are needed to unlock another quest, namely Kaela's Update.

Reading my post under Covert Ops: Beta will lead you back here...
Further info under Kaela's Update...

Edited, Mon Dec 19 23:00:52 2005

Comment by Wimbleton

I don't know if they've changed these but my mage stood a short distance away from the back of the mill and killed everything within sight, one by one. There was one goblin (or whatever) that was attached to another but they're not hard. Don't loot and they won't respawn for a while. Then walk through the mill and pick up the plans off he small table. All the "defenders" that you haven't killed are looking up the hill, not at the table.

Comment by pellmell

The Questie addon showed this and Covert Ops - Beta as available on my map after I turned in Special Delivery for Gaxim but before I was done with Ineptitude + Chemicals = Fun. This is in error and you need to complete both quests for the two covert ops quests to show up.

Comment by GibbleFenwick

There's a little trick that allows you to get a second Covert Ops Pack and each of the items within (Covert Ops Plans: Alpha & Beta, Remote Detonator (Red), Remote Detonator (Blue), NG-5 Explosives (Red), NG-5 Explosives (Blue)).
Either to use as a backup on the quest, or to have some fun after the quest.
Note that every single one of the items is flagged as unique, meaning you're normally prevented from carrying a second.

Note that both quests provide an Ops Pack. (In case you accept one, but not the other, you'll need a pack for either quest.)
And normally when you accept the second quest, the unique flag will prevent you getting two Ops Packs.
However, it so happens that I first accepted Covert Ops - Alpha and then opened the Ops Pack before accepting the other quest.
So I no longer had the "unique" Ops Pack when I accepted Covert Ops - Beta.
I hung onto the pack until after completing the quests (which consumes Remote Detonator (Red), Remote Detonator (Blue), NG-5 Explosives (Red), and NG-5 Explosives (Blue) - if done a the quests intend).

Links

Covert Ops - Alpha

Retrieve the Venture Co.'s Engineering Plans from the lumber mill in Windshear Crag.

	Venture Co. Engineering Plans (1)
	NG-5 Explosives (Blue) (1)
	NG-5 Explosives (Red) (1)
	Remote Detonator (Blue) (1)
	Remote Detonator (Red) (1)

Provided item:

	Covert Ops Pack (1)

Description

This is it, <name>. Pay close attention. The devices are done, and ready to be used.

Take these pages--they'll explain more about the detonators and explosives, and where you should place them.

Remember, the success of your mission doesn't depend on how much destruction you cause. Plan Alpha's success depends on you bringing back the Venture Co.'s engineering plans from inside the lumber mill south of Cragpool Lake.

Progress

Completion

Rewards

You will receive:

Gains

Upon completion of this quest you will gain:

150 reputation with Gnomeregan Exiles

See if you've already completed this by typing:

/run print(C_QuestLog.IsQuestFlaggedCompleted(1079))

Covert Ops - Alpha

Description

Progress

Completion

Rewards

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