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New Expansion Buzz

September 2, 2016 by Belghast

I have been having more fun in World of Warcraft than I have had in years. That at least feels like a true statement, but also one that makes me question it. Sure it seems like I am having a blast, but it got me thinking… don’t I always have a lot of fun at the launch of a new expansion? One of the interesting things about having a blog that has been active since 2009 is that in theory I should have evidence of how I felt at the launch of Cataclysm, Pandaria and Warlords. Around the launch of Cataclysm I seemed to be mostly focused on grouping and gearing… and grinding dungeons to get to the magical number needed for raiding. I think I was still very much in my “games are serious business” mode, so there really isn’t any talk about the expansion being fun or not. In truth remembering that time period I was very much not having fun, and I think in the grand scheme of things that is ultimately why Cataclysm was the expansion that caused me to “quit” World of Warcraft. The quit is of course a lie, considering that I am still playing the game… and never really went longer than six months without reactivating my account. The launch of Pandaria unfortunately happened during a serious lapse in my posting, and by the time I start back up… I was on the daily posting kick and talking about casually playing the game. With the launch of Warlords… I talk a lot about how nostalgic the game makes me feel, but in reality not much actually talking about how I am enjoying it. This was after all the expansion I had originally said I was going to take a pass on… so this quote makes sense.

I still stand by my original statement that if you have no interest in World of Warcraft, this expansion will do little to change that.

So if I set out to prove that I am always pumped about the launch of a new game expansion… I guess I disproved that theory? I guess at least on some level, any infusion of new content is something that I ultimately enjoy. There are new zones to explore, new quests to figure out… and lots and lots of tasty loot. However this time around something feels different, and I am having trouble quantifying exactly what that is. For the first time since the launch of Wrath of the Lich King… I have hope that the best days of the Warcraft franchise are not behind us. With all of the previous expansions… I felt like they did a decent job of stirring up nostalgia, but not really doing a great job of making me feel like the game has a new purpose. This time around so much feels fresh, from the class designs and reworks to the fact that they all seem to be focused on a clear vision of what that class does. I attempted to talk about this yesterday, but the fact that my airflow was pretty low ended up with the post being a jumbled mess. To be truthful I am still sick right now, so for all I know this post is also going to be a jumbled mess. However I love the feel of my Warrior for the first time since I really came into my own as a tanking main during Burning Crusade. The irony here is the fact that I am not really tanking at all, but instead dpsing my way through the content as Fury.

The only problem here is that we have just barely scratched the surface, and myself even more so than that. The game launched Monday night, and we already have four level 110 characters in House Stalwart. I am very much not one of them… but instead hanging back in the middle of the pack at level 105, having completely finished Stormheim and just started Azsuna. I have no idea what the “feel” of the expansion is going to be once we all kick off the training wheels and move into that sometimes glorious time known as the end game. Even Warlords had some really fun moments while leveling, and including some really amazing cinematic experiences. However once we arrived at the end there was a very hollow game waiting for us. I guess the difference this time is that with the launch of Warlords I absolutely expected to have bounced off of the game by about the three month mark. In truth it was a little closer to the six month mark, but the bounce did in fact happen at least mentally even though I don’t think I ever actually cancelled my account this time around. This time however… I have a blazing pyre of hope that maybe just maybe that won’t happen. Ultimately I really like what is going on… with the class design, with the storyline, with the zone creation, and heaven forbid with the lore itself. The bigger story of Khadgar being Khadgar and Jaina being Angry… well it can screw off. However the intricate intra-zone stories are awesome, and I totally want to have reasons to hang out with Havi during later content. World of Warcraft and Blizzard… please don’t break my heart this time.

Farewell Blaugust, Again

September 1, 2016 by Grace

Blaugust is finally over. That means I don’t even need to be posting today. Why am I here? Partially due to habit. I managed to post almost every day, only missing a few due to health issues. The relaxed version of Blaugust this year meant I didn’t have to stress out about skipping a few mornings, and that weirdly made it less of a chore for me to post every day. Without that pressure hanging over me I was happier to keep writing!

In Legion news, my play time has also remained pretty chill. I think the same principle applies. I don’t have any pressure to keep up or race to be raid ready, and it is making me much happier to log in every day and keep playing. Last night I ran a dungeon with my friends, unlocked the other 2 artifact weapons for my class, and even unlocked my monk’s healer weapon. It turns out that running a dungeon as a fire mage made me miss healing intensely, even though I’m sure my friends’ bad behavior in dungeons would have me pulling my hair out in no time. Anyway at least now the option is available if we need a healer.

The mistweaver weapon quest drove home just how much of a healer I really am at heart. At the last part of the quest you get to choose how the NPC allies in your group behave. You can ask them to be mindful and watch themselves, or you can ask them to go all out on damage with the understanding that they will totally stand in all the fire to do this. Given this choice I told each and every one of them to stand in the fire and laughed about it in voice chat with my friends. It turns out I would rather heal idiot DPS and complain about it than have a slow steady fight and have to help DPS as a healer. This worked out spectacularly, the boss died quickly and the game taught me something about myself. Bravo Blizzard.

Artifact Collector

September 1, 2016 by Belghast

Today is of course the beginning of September which draws to a close the month of August… and with it Blaugust. I really should be making a post about the initiative and such, but I am not quite ready to do so. Expect to see this post within the next few days. However I will say that I am really pleased at how well the more low key version of the event seemed to go. What I want to talk about instead however is my Warrior, Skyhold and how freaking awesome it has been to go through this Norse infused Titan journey. One of my favorite sections of the World of Warcraft lore is that of the Titans and Old Gods, but even more so than that… Ulduar. For those not familiar, Ulduar is this romp through largely Norse themed mythology as you are introduced to the “Gods” that we are used to hearing in a slightly different light. So instead of Thor we have Thorim or instead of Hoder we have Hodir. On one level I am sure folks think it is a bit cheesy, but I ate up every bit of it… and was constantly interested on which Titans we would see in the next expansion… and even more so which Old Gods we might encounter. I remember being completely enthralled with tinfoil hat theories about Old Gods being buried beneath various sections of Azeroth, and even cool maps that tried to guess where the next one might be located. All of this will come into play later, but mostly I have to gush on how thoroughly happy I have been with both the Warrior Class Hall and related content, and choosing Stormheim as a starting location.

Everything about both the zone and the Warrior class seems to be steeped in the lore of the Titans… more specifically the lore of the Norse themed Titans. Up until this point Wrath of the Lich King was hands down my favorite of the World of Warcraft expansions, and I didn’t really understand why. Thanks to this expansion I am starting to, because apparently I love all things Nordic and more importantly Vrykul. In Stormheim, you are introduced to a “good” faction of Vrykul called the Valarjar. As a Warrior you end up as a champion of the Valarjar, and find out that they are all the chosen folk of Odyn. Storyline wise you are diametrically opposed to Helya and the Vyrkul that follow her… that are a blast from the past the Kvaldir. Now you would be forgiven if you don’t recognize the name, but the Kvaldir were a very specific type of Vrykul that you encountered several times in Borean Tundra and Howling Fjord the starter zones in Wrath of the Lich King. They also made a similar appearance in Vashj’ir because they were ultimately the force waging war with the Naga during the Battlemaiden sequence of quests. This expansion wraps things up neatly and while we already knew that they were essentially the dead lost at sea… we find out that “Helheim” is where the dead of the sea goes to serve Helya. There is this awesome quests sequence where you have to go into Helheim itself, and in many ways it reminds me of Coldharbor from Elder Scrolls Online. I dinged 102 last night and I feel like I just barely scratched the surface of all that Stormheim has to offer.

With 102 thought opened up the quest chain to allow me to collect the other artifact weapons. So I ventured forth and set about to collect the protection and arms artifacts. The protection quest was cool enough, but nothing to write home about. The arms quest however… was pretty great. This is a call back to the first paragraph of this post, and the speculation of where the old gods might be hiding in Azeroth. Up until this point we have only really encountered three Old Gods… C’Thun, Yogg-Saron, and Y’Shaarj. There are rumors and speculations as to where the others night show up, and one of those locations has long be Tirisfal Glade due to a bit of flavor text. During the Arms quest you venture into the Tomb of Tyr, which you find is located deep inside a lake within a previously unknown area of the Glade. Inside you learn the story of Thoradin the King of Arathor who gave his life in battle with something buried underneath the Glade. Much like the giant glaive embedded inside the skull in Darkshore, when you get into the tomb you see a sword embedded in something that was chained up Yogg-Saron style in a tomb. In the process of retrieving the blade you wake Zakajz which appears to be Faceless One. After doing battle you take up the sword and “execute” it in true warrior style, but more than that… it seems to lead credence to the theory that there is in fact an Old One somewhere beneath the Glade. Why else would the Titans have chained something down there, and it also makes me wonder if Tyr’s tomb is going to eventually be the entrance once Bran Bronzebeard does some digging with dynamite and such. I’ve barely scratched the surface of this expansion and I am already more excited about it than I have been since Wrath. I really hope they finally make good on some of these plot threads and give us serious payoff in the process.

Legion Launch Love

August 31, 2016 by Grace

Unlike many unhappy people, my Amazon order of Legion arrived on time and I was able to play when I got home from work. It sounds like most of the issues were with the collector’s edition, and I only got the normal version, so that probably saved me. I booted up the game and spent about 20 minutes waffling about which character I wanted to level first. I logged in to every level 100 alt so they could start gaining rested XP at least. Then I finally decided on my mage. It is just too fun to pass up!

I decided to go with fire mage even though I usually level as frost. This time around getting the artifact power as I leveled seemed like it would be worth it. I snagged my fancy artifact weapon and then spent a long time wandering around the mage class hall. It is so perfectly magey and I love it!

I chose Azsuna as my first leveling zone and I was not disappointed. It has been a mix of enemies so far, legion and naga and others. I don’t want to spoil the story yet but it was interesting enough to keep me entertained. I was surprised that I completed the “main” story fairly quickly, since I still have a lot of the zone left to do, but I got the quest to do the Eye of Azshara dungeon. I dinged level 101 and popped back to Dalaran to check on crafting quests and my class hall. That’s when the DDoS attack struck. Since it was getting late anyway I decided to call it a night instead of getting increasingly annoyed at not being able to do anything. I can’t tell you how happy I am to not be in a hurry this expansion. Questing has been fun and pretty relaxed, and I don’t have to get enraged when normal launch day issues happen. I’m really looking forward to finishing Azsuna and seeing what the rest of the zone has to offer before I move on!