Gates of Ahn ' Qiraj An insectoid menace awaits in Silithus in the ancient , brooding city of Ahn ' Qiraj that represents a danger to both Horde and Alliance and their place in Azeroth . However , no forces can preemptively deal with the threat unless they can breach the enchanted Scarab Wall and open the Gates of Ahn ' Qiraj closed during the War of the Shifting Sands . The World Event Quest . Ahn ' Qiraj was opened for the first time in the realm on January 23 , 2006 , and has been opened on all other realms since . Opening the gates is a process spanning weeks or even months that requires the cooperation of hundreds of players from all races and factions , involving monsters and quests from all corners of the world map . The Gates of Ahn ' Qiraj are sealed by powerful magic , and to open them , an elite guild must brave a number of trials to reconstruct a long - lost artifact : the Scepter of the Shifting Sands . The world first scepter was aquired by Tryphon of the guild Macabre , on the Mannoroth Server . This scepter can open the walls , but behind them a mighty Qiraji army lays in wait . To repel it , the combined military might of both the Alliance and Horde must be ready outside the wall , and to be ready a great number of supplies must be gathered - - food , bandages , metals and herbs . Once all is ready , the player who holds the Scepter can open the gates , and the Ahn ' Qiraj War can begin . Restoring the Scepter . Restoring involves a long series of quests that will require the efforts of a well - coordinated raiding guild , supported by other top guilds within a faction . Because of the reputation requirements of a certain farming quest ( see step three below ) , one player from each side will typically be designated as that faction ' s scepter - bearer . Quest Rewards from Restoring the Scepter . Even once the Gates of Ahn ' Qiraj are open , people may wish to complete part of the scepter questline for the epic rewards . This quest - line can be completed after the initial war has ended and the gates are open , and all rewards but the final mount ( which can only be received during the 10 - hour war event ) are accessible . Here ' s a list of the quests that give rewards . Completed Scepter : . Note : The quest ( and therefore , the legendary mount ) is only available during the main war event which occurs upon the initial ringing of the gong and lasts 10 hours thereafter . This mount is usable both inside and outside of the Temple of Ahn ' Qiraj , whereas other Resonating Crystals are only usable inside the Temple of Ahn ' Qiraj . Once the war event is complete , the legendary mount can no longer be obtained by any means . Gathering war supplies . Both Alliance and Horde players must work together to gather war supplies for the combined army of the two factions . Co - operation is key to the success of each server . This stage of the gate opening can easily last several ( real - time ) months due to the number of supplies that must be gathered , as well as competing against other servers in a race to start the event before the others : " In parentheses is the number of signets awarded on " repeats " of the quest . The first time you will always be awarded 10 signets . " Both factions need to gather : The Alliance needs to gather in the Military Ward of Ironforge : The Horde needs to gather in The Valley of Spirits in Orgrimmar : Each item has its own NPC for turn - in . On the Alliance side , all turn - ins are in the Military Ward in Ironforge . Each turn - in requires a full stack of the item ( 10 or 20 , depending on the item ) , and awards 10 Commendation Signets and a box of the first time you hand in one stack . For the second hand - in of the same item , the amount of signets depends on the level of the item - high - level items will still give you 10 signets each time , mid - level items get you 7 signets , and 5 signets from the third hand - in on . Low - level items apparently only give 1 signet starting with the third turn - in . Boxes of Ahn ' Qiraj War Effort Supplies contain various items . Observed contents included : You can turn in the signets for more supply boxes or for reputation with one of your five factions . The five commendation officers , one for each race in the faction , are located in the same area and also 1 in each capital city . Each can take either , or at a time . Turning in 10 awards 150 reputation with that race ( increased in Patch 2 . 0 . 1 ) , while turning in 1 only awards you 5 reputation . Finally , there is an NPC patrolling the area ( for the Alliance , for the Horde ) that accepts 5 , 10 , 15 , 20 , or 30 Commendation Signets ( depending on your level ) in return for a larger batch of supplies , and will tell you the progress being made in all of the turn - ins , and an NPC for the opposite faction ( in Ironforge , in Orgrimmar ) that will tell you about progress on that side . The turn ins per level : Opening the gates . Once all the necessary war supplies have been gathered , the combined forces of the Alliance and the Horde will begin transporting NPCs , equipment and supplies to Silithus . Five days must pass while the supplies are sent by zeppelin ( this cannot actually be seen occurring ) ; as the days pass , the stockpiles of supplies that had been accumulating slowly diminish until everything is in place , at which point the holder of the Scepter can ring the mighty gong to cause the Scarab Wall to open . This will cause a ten - hour - long continent - wide event to begin , preceded by a global message to everyone on the server stating , " < Name of Scarab Lord > , Champion of the Bronze Dragonflight , has rung the Scarab Gong . The ancient gates of Ahn ' Qiraj open , revealing the horrors of a forgotten war . . . " . The most immediate effect , of course , is that the Gates of Ahn ' Qiraj will open and powerful monsters and bosses will begin pouring out . General Rajaxx appears , along with a number of very large Anubisath and Qiraji epic monsters that the combined player and NPC armies must defeat . Once this is done , raiding guilds can proceed into the 20 - and 40 - man instances at their leisure . In addition , anyone with a complete Scepter of the Shifting Sands who rings the gong again during this event will receive a Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal that is used to summon a cross - faction , fast legendary mount . While the fray at the Gates is underway , large floating obelisks called Resonating Crystal Formation s will reportedly appear in Silithus , Tanaris , Feralas , The Barrens , Thousand Needles and Un ' Goro Crater . These obelisks will alternately mind - control player - characters in their vicinity and spawn high - level monsters like Colossal Anubisath Warbringer s and various Silithid . After ten hours of this the crystals and their spawn will disappear , bringing the Ahn ' Qiraj War to an end . From this point forward , the Gates of Ahn ' Qiraj will remain open . Time Limited Opening Quests . There are 3 time limited quests available in Cenarion Hold during the 10 hour opening event . Each of these quests , and the related quest giver , vanish at the end of the opening event . Note that the following 3 quests only become available following the death of a Colossus mob at each of the 3 hives in Silithus . Each quest is essentially a delivery quest with a 2 hour time limit , and all are very simple to complete . Players completing each quest will receive , as well as . Organization . Some servers coordinate the efforts through their realm forums , and some even have dedicated websites to help organize their efforts . View status on U . S . realms here . View status on EU realms here . RE - Opening the gates . When patch 3 . 0 . 2 was released , the gates of Ahn ' Qiraj were briefly closed due to a bug that reset the gates on each server , and gave all characters of the same Race and Class as the original opener the ability to speak Draconic . All mobs spawned during the event were respawned as well . The supplies did " not " need to be gathered , and if the quest chain was done previously one would need to simply turn it in and re - open the gates , giving them the mount and Scarab Lord title . Permanent " Closure " of the Event . On February 6 , 2009 , sometime after Patch 3 . 0 . 8a , Bornakk posted on the forums that the Ahn ' Qiraj gates will automatically be open on all new future realms . He would also later clarify in the thread that there are no plans to have an alternative method to obtain the Black Qiraji Battle Tank . On February 11 , 2009 , a day after Patch 3 . 0 . 9 , was the world ' s first realm to be opened in this way . The final step of closure came with the release of Patch 3 . 2 . The commendation officers in all major cities were removed . However , in Patch 3 . 3 , the resource collectors and quests were unexpectedly brought back . Though it was simply a glitch and has been fixed , it shows the programming for the AQ War Effort still exists to this day . Quests . The following is a list of quests associated with the Gates of Ahn ' Qiraj world event . Once the gates have been opened on your server these quests will no longer be available .