Where to get the Night Watchman's Torch

The torch comes from a quick quest in Duskwood called An Unfortunate End. You start it on the body of a slain Night Watch guard, and finishing it gives you the Night Watchman's Torch.

The guard only spawns at night, and not always in the same spot. Guides found the body around Raven Hill and elsewhere across the south and west of Duskwood.

  1. Travel to Raven Hill in western Duskwood. Horde players can take the zeppelin from Orgrimmar to Grom'gol in Stranglethorn Vale and walk north.
  2. Wait for night. Method's guide suggests 20:00 game time or later.
  3. Check behind the largest building in Raven Hill, next to the outhouse, around coordinates 18.1, 55.2. If it isn't there, search the south and west of the zone.
  4. Click the slain Night Watch guard to get An Unfortunate End, and complete it for the torch.
Duskwood at night with dark trees and a crooked outhouse, Dee holding up a burning torch whose warm circle of light reaches a slain Night Watch guard lying in the grass.
Raven Hill after dark: the guard behind the big house, and a torch you keep.

What the torch does

It's a toy, not a weapon, so you can keep your weapon equipped while you carry it. Use it from your action bar, and your character holds up a burning torch that lights the area around them. Kotaku found no other item in the beta that lights up dark areas like it.

Method's guide lists the limits: it lasts five minutes, has a 30-second cooldown, and goes out when you enter combat, swim, or walk into a major city. You can carry only one. If you delete it, you can go back to Duskwood for another.

It matters more than it would in Classic. Forever's new lighting makes Duskwood's forest genuinely dark under the trees. At BlizzCon, a Blizzard environment artist walking the zone said you might just want to find a torch to carry along with you.

Why the torch was hidden for a week

The torch was meant to be a launch surprise. On the official podcast on 22 October, a developer said the quest and the guard's spawn were switched off for the beta's first week. Then the team turned them on early, partly because it was fun and partly to test the new lighting: could a crowd of players carrying lights cause performance problems? "Spoiler, it did," the developer said, and the team fixed it.

The torch fed back into the game. Seeing players carry it, the team asked what if the guards in Stormwind, Ironforge and Orgrimmar carried torches at night, and only drew them after dark. The developer said small ideas like that shaped adjustments made during the beta.

Will it work the same at launch?

Probably, but check. Everything here comes from the beta, which ended on 21 October and was wiped. Blizzard hasn't published patch notes for the torch, and beta details can still change before 4 November.

The developers also say more of Forever's secrets were kept off the beta entirely. The torch is the one they chose to show. Save the Raven Hill spot in a Wowdee waypoint set, and the add-on's arrow takes you there.

Still to come

Not yet settled by our sources or tested in game:

  • Whether the guard's spawn times, the torch's duration and its cooldown are the same at launch.
  • Whether the city guards carry torches at night in the launch build.
  • Any other light-source items hidden from the beta.

Sources

Beta notes are dated because Forever is still changing.