Unto Northrend!
Yes, I got my Wrath of the Lich King expansion last week. Yes, I've been playing WoW a lot over the weekend. Thusfar, my alt-main priest is level 73, my main-main paladin is level 71, I have a death knight hanging out at level 58, and my Northrend experience is thusfar limited almost entirely to the Borean Tundra and Howling Fjord "starting" zones.
All-in-all, it's been pretty awesome. I won't lie, server population has been a problem - with queue times to log in during peek hours and lots of people fighting over limited resources (which is mitigated a little by the flexible respawn times based on zone/subzone population introduced a while back). I'd hit a few snaps in questing, but only once was I not able to go back over my log and figure out what I was doing wrong.
Of course, psychologically there's some strangeness with this expansion for me. When Burning Crusade came out, my character were not at endgame levels. I still had questing to do before reaching Outland. This time, that's not the case, and I feel compelled to some degree to ready my characters for endgame content more for the sake of the guild than for my own sake. There's been some talk about doing dungeons, but most people so far seem busy just gaining experience. There's an air of racing around advancement, and that detracts a little from enjoyment of the content. I'm trying to find a balance within myself. Thusfar, I'm in the slightly-higher-than-middle position of advancement within the guild, I think. Someone was level 76 last I checked, but a lot of folks are level 71 or have been putting in time with death knights that start at 55.
Death Knight Starting
In a word? Awesome. Crowded, but awesome. The storyline is interesting, if a little rushed. The area and quests make use of a lot of the new techniques introduced in the expansion. You'll be projected into a shadow realm (which isn't new, really) for a quest. You'll also experience the new "phased" zones, where a quest pushes you further along in the plotline and the area will change accordingly, including not interacting with people in a different phase (which works particularly well when you have tons of people in the zone, but at different stages in the quests). You're introduced to the newer interface used for vehicles/siege weapons. The armor and weapons look fittingly great and the mount you pick up is spiffy (if a little screechy when summoned). And the joining of your faction (Alliance or Horde) seems to be fitting enough.
I'm not overly impressed with the death knight class itself, though. They're okay, but don't feel like they have the variety of abilities (they probably don't, but I haven't counted) that other classes do. I'll play mine more, but not as a main character. I made her mostly so I can have someone pick herbs for my warlock, and I'm quite taken with the idea of a death knight obligated to pick flowers by some dark magics. ;)
Howling Fjord
I really started diving into this zone first. While I was waiting for company with my paladin, my priest dove right in solo. Large nordic humanoids, undead, wildlife, pirates, elementals, dwarves... lots of stuff here. I'm hard-pressed to think of an Azeroth/Outland zone with more than two flight points. These starting zone have more like five. The green terrain made Nagrand look positively yellow in comparison. A few quest highlights:
- Feeding a falcon and using it to snatch up wildlife.
- Gathering parts to have a construct made to infiltrate and explore enemy territory - with rocket jumping!
- Shooting down flying enemies with a borrowed harpoon gun and riding a harpoon like a surf board across a gorge.
- Disguising as a worg, complete with cute "begging" dance and big floppy paws.
- Swooping down on a gryphon to rescue people being chased by undead (okay, technically a Dragonblight quest, but someone in the Fjord sent me over there).
Borean Tundra
A bit more populated than the Fjord, I think, as the ship comes from a main city. A couple of the quest camps are very environmentally focused, mainly the one run by DEHTA (Druids for the Ethical and Humane Treatment of Animals). You actually get a temporary debuff for killing some of the wildlife here that hinders your dealings with the group.
- Trapping poachers and freeing baby mammoths from traps.
- Murlocs! There's a chain that involves freeing baby murlocs (so cute and the little pitter-patter of their feet...) and putting on a murloc costume.
- Venturing into a crashed necropolis.
- Dealing with dragonkin and dragons. There's some impressive-looking encounters in the Coldarra around the Nexus. I look forward to seeing what's inside.
I've also dipped into Dragonblight, where a lot of plotline stuff happens if I've read right, and briefly through Grizzly Hills and Scholazar Basin, which reminds me of Un'goro Crater. There have been some trying moments (population-based respawns can lead to some sticky situations and "ninjas" suck), but on the whole it's been a positive experience and I'm very impressed thusfar with what I've seen. Northrend seems huge. The quests have a good variety (though, of course, there are still 'kill/collect X things' quests), and everything I've been through looks and sounds good.
All-in-all, it's been pretty awesome. I won't lie, server population has been a problem - with queue times to log in during peek hours and lots of people fighting over limited resources (which is mitigated a little by the flexible respawn times based on zone/subzone population introduced a while back). I'd hit a few snaps in questing, but only once was I not able to go back over my log and figure out what I was doing wrong.
Of course, psychologically there's some strangeness with this expansion for me. When Burning Crusade came out, my character were not at endgame levels. I still had questing to do before reaching Outland. This time, that's not the case, and I feel compelled to some degree to ready my characters for endgame content more for the sake of the guild than for my own sake. There's been some talk about doing dungeons, but most people so far seem busy just gaining experience. There's an air of racing around advancement, and that detracts a little from enjoyment of the content. I'm trying to find a balance within myself. Thusfar, I'm in the slightly-higher-than-middle position of advancement within the guild, I think. Someone was level 76 last I checked, but a lot of folks are level 71 or have been putting in time with death knights that start at 55.
Death Knight Starting
In a word? Awesome. Crowded, but awesome. The storyline is interesting, if a little rushed. The area and quests make use of a lot of the new techniques introduced in the expansion. You'll be projected into a shadow realm (which isn't new, really) for a quest. You'll also experience the new "phased" zones, where a quest pushes you further along in the plotline and the area will change accordingly, including not interacting with people in a different phase (which works particularly well when you have tons of people in the zone, but at different stages in the quests). You're introduced to the newer interface used for vehicles/siege weapons. The armor and weapons look fittingly great and the mount you pick up is spiffy (if a little screechy when summoned). And the joining of your faction (Alliance or Horde) seems to be fitting enough.
I'm not overly impressed with the death knight class itself, though. They're okay, but don't feel like they have the variety of abilities (they probably don't, but I haven't counted) that other classes do. I'll play mine more, but not as a main character. I made her mostly so I can have someone pick herbs for my warlock, and I'm quite taken with the idea of a death knight obligated to pick flowers by some dark magics. ;)
Howling Fjord
I really started diving into this zone first. While I was waiting for company with my paladin, my priest dove right in solo. Large nordic humanoids, undead, wildlife, pirates, elementals, dwarves... lots of stuff here. I'm hard-pressed to think of an Azeroth/Outland zone with more than two flight points. These starting zone have more like five. The green terrain made Nagrand look positively yellow in comparison. A few quest highlights:
- Feeding a falcon and using it to snatch up wildlife.
- Gathering parts to have a construct made to infiltrate and explore enemy territory - with rocket jumping!
- Shooting down flying enemies with a borrowed harpoon gun and riding a harpoon like a surf board across a gorge.
- Disguising as a worg, complete with cute "begging" dance and big floppy paws.
- Swooping down on a gryphon to rescue people being chased by undead (okay, technically a Dragonblight quest, but someone in the Fjord sent me over there).
Borean Tundra
A bit more populated than the Fjord, I think, as the ship comes from a main city. A couple of the quest camps are very environmentally focused, mainly the one run by DEHTA (Druids for the Ethical and Humane Treatment of Animals). You actually get a temporary debuff for killing some of the wildlife here that hinders your dealings with the group.
- Trapping poachers and freeing baby mammoths from traps.
- Murlocs! There's a chain that involves freeing baby murlocs (so cute and the little pitter-patter of their feet...) and putting on a murloc costume.
- Venturing into a crashed necropolis.
- Dealing with dragonkin and dragons. There's some impressive-looking encounters in the Coldarra around the Nexus. I look forward to seeing what's inside.
I've also dipped into Dragonblight, where a lot of plotline stuff happens if I've read right, and briefly through Grizzly Hills and Scholazar Basin, which reminds me of Un'goro Crater. There have been some trying moments (population-based respawns can lead to some sticky situations and "ninjas" suck), but on the whole it's been a positive experience and I'm very impressed thusfar with what I've seen. Northrend seems huge. The quests have a good variety (though, of course, there are still 'kill/collect X things' quests), and everything I've been through looks and sounds good.
As for the "largeness" of the starting zones, each one feels about as big as the Barrens, with maybe triple the quests for both factions. There's just so much to do that at times I feel a little bogged down by it all! @_@ I do agree with you about those particular highlights, especially the murloc baby rescue. Y'know what blew me away? the inital ship ride into the Fjord from Menethil. Yeah just going under that burning boat and then as you come around the bend in the river.. BAM! there's Utgarde Keep looming over the starting towns like a silent juggernaut, full of menace and beautifully rendered.
ReplyDeleteAh yes, that was a striking moment. The Fjord did win some points in my book with that. The ship ride is notably longer, but the view as you come is in quite impressive. Everyone really ought to settle in and experience that at some point without the furvor of diving into something right away. And now there's talk of moving the guild to another server? Oy. Not sure I like that idea, especially because the main proponent appears to be someone I saw very little of pre-expansion. >.>
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