TheWoWDBBefore you start farming the mobs to get the key, look for this guy ;) he drops it 100%!
http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=23008#M0z
Quest
Ethereum Secrets
A World of Warcraft quest in Netherstorm. Facts and objectives from the current retail game data.
The highest voted Wowhead comments for this page. They are community notes, not TheWoWDB comments.
To help clear up some of the apparent confusion on how to get these keys and what to do with them once you have them (assuming you're farming Consortium rep).
There are a couple of ways to get [item=29460].1. Camp out in the prescribed area in the quest and kill mobs until it drops. This option is a grind.
Wowhead lists the [npc=23008] as having a 95% drop rate for the item, but he's a reasonably rare spawn, so you could be waiting a long time before you find him.
The next best drop rate is about 7% off other mobs in the quest zone.
Either way it's painful unless you get lucky.2. Run Heroic [zone=3792]. One run should give you approximately 4 to 6 [item=29460]. Since you will be getting rep anyway, killing mobs in the instance - this seems a preferable option if you're farming rep with the Consortium.
Next, fly to the quest area and find the Ethereum Staging Grounds. Location 54.6 / 46.5 should put you in the right spot. Use the key(s) to open one of the pink bubble Ethereum prisons.
The mob that comes out of the prison will drop a [item=31957] with about a 98% drop rate.Complete quest.
Once you hand in the quest it will turn into a repeatable quest Ethereum Prisoner I.D. Catalogue, which will give you approx 300 rep per turn in and also unlock the quest A Thousand Worlds.
This seems to be a quest thats meant to be done as you do all the other quests in this area as the drop rate is, for me, significantly smaller than the last quest.
If you are just starting out in this area, make an effort to turn the salvaged key in right away so you can grab this quest and soften the blow of this grind.As a side note, since wowhead doesn't mention it, the precursor to this quest is http://www.wowhead.com/?quest=10970
Quest facts
LevelLevel 25-30
ZoneNetherstorm
Quest ID10971
The client quest POI data records no map location for this quest, so no map is shown.
Check whether you have already completed this quest
in-game: /run print(C_QuestLog.IsQuestFlaggedCompleted(10971))
Requirements
ReputationThe Consortium: Honored or higher
Read from the Blizzard quest API.
Description
<Ameer holds up a tag.> I found this prisoner I.D. tag with the remains of the fallen vanguard. I can only assume that all of their prisoners are tagged in the same manner. I'm going to start cataloguing the tags in hopes of making sense of their penal system. If in your adventures you find more Ethereum prison keys, you can use them to open the Ethereum prisons at the Ethereum Staging Grounds - directly south of here. Bring me back any and all I.D. tags that you find.
Community notes from Wowhead · 140 comments
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Reward details
Reputation: The Consortium +250
Led by Nexus-Prince Haramad, the Consortium is a loosely affiliated cartel of ethereal smugglers, traders and thieves that has come to Outland to benefit from its riches.
Reputation group: The Burning Crusade.
Other quests in Netherstorm that reward The Consortium reputation: Warp-Raider Nesaad (+250), A Heap of Ethereals (+250), Assisting the Consortium (+10), Consortium Crystal Collection (+250), Request for Assistance (+25), Rightful Repossession (+250).
Item facts are the current retail client’s (ItemSparse); the specialisations for a pick-one item are the ones the Blizzard quest API lists; faction and currency text is the client’s own. Lowest listed price = the US commodity auction house now.