FirstHand

FirstHand is a journal for WoW Forever. It records the people you talk to, the places you walk into, the books you read and the loot you find, then tells the stories behind them as you uncover them.

It follows one rule: the journal only knows what your character knows. You won't find maps of places you haven't been, drop tables or quest solutions. A story chapter stays blank until you turn in the quest that reveals it. When an NPC mentions something useful, the journal writes down what they said and who said it.

What's in the book

Stories. 350 stories with 1,375 chapters. Some are long sagas, like the Defias Brotherhood and the Burning Blade. Most are local tales tied to a zone's quest chains. The tab opens on the zone you're standing in, and finished stories move to their own section.

People. Everyone you talk to, with the quest text they gave you saved for rereading. 608 of them have written lore.

Places. Every zone and subzone you enter, 831 of them with lore. Rooms inside a building are listed on the building's page.

Writings. Books, plaques and wanted posters, page by page.

Collection. The first time you get each notable item, filed by dungeon and boss, by zone and mob, by quest, or as crafted and bought. Grey items and trade goods are left out.

Foes. Bosses, rare creatures and outdoor elites you've beaten: where, when, how many times, and what they dropped.

Journal. Each day of play written up as a short diary entry.

Hints have a source

If a quest giver tells you something that matters to a story, it goes on that story's page with their name attached, for example "Heard from Marshal Dughan." Hints only come from text the game shows you: quest offers, quest completions, gossip, books and posters. Accepting a quest never unlocks a chapter, though reading its offer can teach you a hint.

Secrets with a time and place

43 places hold something that only appears at a certain hour of the realm clock or during a festival. You learn about them from someone in the world who mentions it, or by being in the right spot at the right time.

Smaller things

• A popup when something new is added. You can turn these off.
• Innkeepers and flight masters now and then pass on a rumour about somewhere you haven't been.
• Minimap button, resizable window, search box, and lists that fold by zone.
• Installed on a character who has already been playing, it reads your completed quests and fills in what they revealed.

Commands

Good to know

• Made for WoW Forever, interface 16001. It hasn't been tested on Classic Era or other versions.
• English game client only. Names are matched in English, so other languages won't unlock lore.
• Forever's content above level 30 has little lore so far. Blizzard hasn't published the quest text yet, and it will be added once they do.
• Each character keeps its own journal. The addon doesn't contact other players or anything outside the game.

Found a mistake?

If an NPC or place shows up grey when it should have lore, or a story never moves on, leave a comment with the name and zone. /firsthand unknown lists everything you've found that has no lore, which makes naming problems easy to spot.