It's a Waist of Time

Completing the It's a Waist of Time puzzle awards the cosmetic Waist of Time item.

Background
The majority of the puzzle takes advantage of clues found in in addition to the anagrams provided by the previous clue. For instance, the first picture is of an arakkoa city, which eventually led players to discover the solution for "SEEK KNOWLEGE" in the form of the Lit Orb outside Skyreach. Each object's article has more information on the solution.

Prerequisites and required items

 * Level
 * Baa'ls Darksign acquired and the Riddle of Baa'l completed on the character attempting to do this secret
 * Tailoring-crafted cloth armor, must be and not :
 * Windwool Hood
 * Deathsilk Shoulders
 * Netherweave Tunic
 * Frostwoven Leggings
 * Poor quality items:
 * Rough Wooden Staff from inscription vendors
 * Proximo's Rudius from Coreiel or  Aldraan in Nagrand, depending on faction control on Halaa.
 * Punctured Pelt from Aspen Grove Trader in Grizzly Hills. Both Alliance and Horde players can purchase from this vendor, regardless of quest status after a hotfix
 * Formula: Enchant Ring - Striking from Ythyar in the raid version of Karazhan

Tracking quests
You can use the following script to track your progress.

/run local a,q=0,{{52819},{52809,52810},{52818,52812,-1},{53632,53634},{52827,52831},{52898,52922}} for x, y in ipairs(q) do for i = y[1], y[2] or y[1], y[3] or 1 do a=a+1 print(a.." ("..i..") "..tostring(C_QuestLog.IsQuestFlaggedCompleted(i))) end end

The first 15 steps are part of the B'aal progression -- Waist of time starts on quest 16.

Part two progress
After collecting the items (#26) and doing the emotes (#27), check to see if you have 4 true's:

/run local t = {52822,52823,52824,52826} for i,v in ipairs(t) do print(C_QuestLog.IsQuestFlaggedCompleted(v)) end

Walkthrough
This is a quick walkthrough to show what needs to happen, but does not show how players arrived at the solution. Each step in the chain has more explanation.


 * 1) Find the Lit Orb at in the Apexis Excavation on the Spires of Arak just outside the instance line for Skyreach. "Passive Ice Veins" → "Invasive Species"
 * 2) Find the Strange Seed at (on the Elwynn Forest map) in the botani area above the Mage Quarter in Stormwind City (approximately  on the Stormwind City map,  on the continent map). "Sadness, Keynoted" → "Sky, Stone and Seed"
 * 3) Find a Tiny Frog at sitting on a rock underwater on a river in Skettis in Spires of Arak. "Dog wig moss?" → "Gog's wisdom"
 * 4) Find a Brittle Bone at in Ogri'la on Blade's Edge Mountains on Outland. "Rage, Shank, Sever" → "Karash's Revenge"
 * 5) Find the Misplaced Candle at in Sethekk Hollow in Spires of Arak. "Rankest Goldfish" → "Light of Darkness"
 * 6) Find the Odd Cup at on Exile's Rise in  on Draenor. "Ease off fruit..." → "Fate of furies"
 * 7) Find the Interesting Rock at on the Hand of Gul'dan in the Shadowmoon Valley on Outland. "The BIG Bull" → "Blue Blight"
 * 8) Find the Blooming Lily at in the Fallow Sanctuary of Swamp of Sorrows. "Jaws open nooks!" → "Jok son's weapon"
 * 9) Find the Pretty Flower at in the Undercroft of Eastern Plaguelands. "Dead Rune Thug" → "The unguarded"
 * 10) Find the Old Book at outside Karazhan in Deadwind Pass. "...A Stage Deception" → "Negotiated Space"
 * 11) Find the Dead Fish at outside the entrance to Lower Blackrock Spire in Blackrock Mountain. "Necropolis Expos!" → "Corpse Explosion!"
 * 12) Find the Scratched Board at in the Yorgen Farmstead of Duskwood. "The net saves." → "Seventh seat"
 * 13) Find the Lost Ring at in the Ruins of Alterac of the Hillsbrad Foothills. "Terrible grunt." → "Turtle bringer"
 * 14) Find the Spoiled Apple at at Fuselight-by-the-Sea in Badlands. "Leave Nets, Often" → "Elven fatestones"
 * 15) Find the Broken Tooth at at Altar of Storms in Blasted Lands. "Brash remains." → "Brain smasher"
 * 16) Find the Worn Helm at in the Burning Steppes. "Sensed the Figs..." → "Sights defense"
 * 17) Find the Leafy Leaf at in Dalaran of Northrend. "Phantasmal Hosts?" → "Shaman Paths Lost"
 * 18) Find the Musty Cloth at at Auchindoun of Terokkar Forest. "Scarce odds, still." → "Castle Discs Lord"
 * 19) Find the Broken Tablet at at Grim Batol of Twilight Highlands. "Starfish droplets!" → "Herald's first stop"
 * 20) Find the Ashed Torch at at Ruins of Isildien of Feralas. "...a daft tormenter's fog." → "Forgotten farmstead"
 * 21) Find Grimmy at at an unnamed dwarven farm of Arathi Highlands. Be in the old phase, not the Warfront phase!
 * 22) Find Grimmy's List of Friends note on table at at an unnamed dwarven farm of Arathi Highlands.
 * 23) Buy or create Windwool Hood, Deathsilk Shoulders, Netherweave Tunic, Frostwoven Leggings and equip them. Must be, not.
 * 24) Speak with Grimmy at at an unnamed dwarven farm of Arathi Highlands and say 
 * 25) Find Grimmy's List of Enemies note on table near bed at at an unnamed dwarven farm of Arathi Highlands.
 * 26) Purchase or acquire these items: (just have them in inventory, no need to interact / equip them, buy them in any order)
 * 27) *Rough Wooden Staff from inscription vendors
 * 28) *Proximo's Rudius from Coreiel or  Aldraan in Nagrand, depending on faction control on Halaa.
 * 29) *Punctured Pelt from Aspen Grove Trader in Grizzly Hills. Both Alliance and Horde players can purchase from this vendor, regardless of quest status, since a hotfix in Patch 8.0.1 changed this.
 * 30) *Formula: Enchant Ring - Striking from Ythyar in the raid version of Karazhan
 * 31) While in possession of the four poor-quality items, emote at the following NPCs (can be done in any order)
 * 32) */slap Aquinastrasz at at Vermillion Redoubt of Twilight Highlands.
 * 33) */cheer Noggra at at The Argent Stand of Zul'Drak.
 * 34) */wave Karnum Marshweaver at  at Cenarion Wildlands of Desolace.
 * 35) */dance Stained Mug at at Shado-Pan Fallback of Kun-Lai Summit.
 * 36) Speak with Grimmy at at an unnamed dwarven farm of Arathi Highlands and say 
 * 37) Find Grimmy's Favorite Recipe note on the fireplace at at an unnamed dwarven farm of Arathi Highlands.
 * 38) Get exactly 144 stacks of the Rotten Potato debuff at then talk to Grimmy and say 
 * 39) Find Grimmy's Rusty Lockbox‎ behind the house and loot the Waist of Time