So you all want to know how Bella is doing I'm sure. Well, she's still level 70, but I specced her deep affliction to start with, with 5 points in Demo and 5 points in Destro. Hey, a girl needs her stam and shorter cast time for Sbolts.
Haunt has been a lot of fun to play with, and I've been running around with my imp out. However, after reading up on the new pet abilities, I think I may switch to my fel hound. I didn't take Unstable Affliction pre-Friday's patch, but I may take it when I go back in to spec. I did Utgarde Keep with her, and that was fun. It was nice to have mobs up a little longer so that my DoTs could tick, but I severely miss my Dottimer. It's pretty difficult to keep track of your dots, when you're in a group with another warlock, a pally and a mage. So many debuffs it gets a little nuts.
So far, the questing has been nice in Howling Fjord. The music is certainly much better than in the Tundra, comprising of a distinctive celtic or irish feel, rather than stucatto piano music. The scenery is a little prettier as well. I didn't touch Bella all weekend however.
I did play Rissa quite a bit yesterday. The server has still been a little (more) unstable than usual, crashing every 10 - 15 minutes. For this reason, I was dualing with the live-side yesterday, doing dailies on Keri or questing with Rissa as the server allowed.
I did discover a nice little something yesterday that will hopefully go live. Doing dailies more than once while leveling gets you the same amount of XP. See, usually, you do a daily once as a quest, then it becomes a daily and the rewards aren't as good. However, when I completed the Troll Patroll daily, which consists of getting a main quest from the Argent Crusade camp in Zul'Drak, then completing 1 quest from 4 separate sub-zones, then turning in the Troll Patroll (total of 5 quests), I received the same amount of xp. Now this Troll Patroll is a good deal. The troll patroll quest is timed, and you have 30 minutes to complete the 4 other quests. Each of the 4 quick quests rewards 5300 xp (for a total of 21,200). The Troll Patroll quest gets turned in for 21,500. AND!! If you make the 30 minute timer, which you should fairly easily, you get an additional 26,500 xp. So, in 30 minutes, you can obtain a whopping 69,200xp. Trust me, this set of dailies is well worth the time.
I did get to go exploring a new instance yesterday and I actually did it twice in a row. Gundrak is a reasonably quick instance, encompassing 4 bosses, all named Prophet (insert name here), except one. The one is a little bugged, not allowing you to complete a quest involving him, but I assume they'll fix it sooner or later. The first boss summons these little snake adds, so as long as everyone stands on the bosses platform it's no big deal. We had a pally tank, so a little consecration killed the snakes easily. Our other dps comprised a warlock, and a shriest. (And the new shriests are AWESOME). The second boss phases between a earth elemental (that looks like a stone statue) and a purple water elemental. His phasing is based on health, seeming to switch at 50% and 0%. It's a tank & spank, and easy. The third boss changes into a Rhino and then does a silencing and stun effect. The last boss, which you get to by activating altars once the first three bosses are dead, also changes into a Rhino, and he randomly charges party members, impaling them with a dot. This is one of the easiest instances, and the bosses are very easy. In fact, for a mid-level 70's instnace, I would say they need to toughen it up a little bit. Aside from a level difference, level 70's themselves should be able to wipe the floor in there. While I was in there however, I did finally replace my T5 chest piece. I also replaced my T5 legs earlier in the day with a quest reward blue. So it seems that T5 starts to get replaced around level 76-77.
Oh, and I got to do a fantastic quest chain yesterday where you get to play a spy, and dress up like scourge. I won't give it away, and hopefully Blizz will tweak a few things before it goes live as it did have some issues, but it was interesting, and quite fun.
With the XP tweak, and the fact that I still have a ton of rest XP, I'm now nearly 3/4 of the way through 77. Hopefully I'll hit 78 tonight, and finish up Zul'Drak. I haven't even touched Sholozar Basin, and I'm hoping to hit 80 soon so I can try Naxx and give Wintergrasp a try.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Saturday, September 6, 2008
It's been several days since I've given you guys any new and juicy details on the beta. I aplogize for neglecting you.
First, when they patched yesterday, instead of doing a quest in Sholozar Basin to get your cold weather flying, you pay a trainer at level 77. The cost is now 950g. For those whom I've recently told otherwise, I apologize, as I just hit 77 ~45 minutes ago and I wasn't aware they had made that change in this patch. It sucks, but it does get you back epic flying, so at least it's somewhat cheaper than the original. I also think it's shitty of Blizz to charge us for an ability to which we already had and they took away access, so I'll be filing a suggestion/complaint on that.
Let's see, I did find the absolute worst sub-zone I've yet to encounter. Drak'Sotra is a small sub-zone in Zul'Drak and while the quests seem like they would be interesting (mainly freeing Argent Crusade people), the spawn/drop rates are terrible, even when you've got an entire sub-zone full of people. I'll be submitting poor feedback for those quests and hopefully we'll see some changes come live.
For one of the coolest quests I've gotten to do, I was able to successfully free a storm giant, and then I spent some time riding around on his head killing level 80 elites. Another very frustrating, but very rewarding quest. If you get several people trying to do this all at the same time, it gets difficult, but at the same time, it's a storm giant, and you're on his head. Geekdom vs. annoyance factor I suppose.
The server has been about stable as can be expected. You get 5-10 minutes of play time, then see 3/4 of your guild go "offline" and know to expect the same. You never quite log in where you left off, but you typically have whatever you logged out with. They also seem to be fixing some of the bugged quests finally, which is nice.
I did the Ampitheater of Anguish a few days ago, finally replaced my Wub's Cursed Hexblade. The AoA is the new Ring of Blood, complete with crowd sound effects. You still make just as much money, and get just as awesome of a weapon at the end. The spell power unification makes gear choices a little more varied, but making a decision also takes more time than usual. However, as a Boomkin, I can use the spirit, and I like that I get to choose more between haste and crit. Hopefully we'll get some haste/crit items this go round in the raiding scene.
I'm hoping to get to 80 soon, as I'd like to see the inside of Naxx. I'm most interested to see if the cat is still around.
I did just finish one of the new daily quests. You get to do dailies while you're leveling. They grant XP on par with other quests from that level, and typically a little higher cash value. This one requires you to take the daily from the Argent Crusade main area in Zul' Drak, then go around to the sub-zones and complete 4 dailies in a half hour. The 4 dailies only grant minimal cash (1.5g) and minimal xp (5300 at 77). However, if you complete all 4 in a half hour, you're eligible for a second daily from the main area that gives you extra xp, extra cash and a stuffed bag. The dailies were fairly easy, except the one from Finkelstein. But all in all, a fun little challenge.
I did some dailies back in Grizzly hills as well, but they all required you to flag PvP. I did get ganked a couple times by a level 77 (i was 73), but those were fairly fun as well. I think this is a great way to let people learn the zones and make some extra cash while leveling.
Well, I just fell asleep at the keyboard, and I'm not sure how long I was out for. I'll cover Bella's progress in the next couple days.
First, when they patched yesterday, instead of doing a quest in Sholozar Basin to get your cold weather flying, you pay a trainer at level 77. The cost is now 950g. For those whom I've recently told otherwise, I apologize, as I just hit 77 ~45 minutes ago and I wasn't aware they had made that change in this patch. It sucks, but it does get you back epic flying, so at least it's somewhat cheaper than the original. I also think it's shitty of Blizz to charge us for an ability to which we already had and they took away access, so I'll be filing a suggestion/complaint on that.
Let's see, I did find the absolute worst sub-zone I've yet to encounter. Drak'Sotra is a small sub-zone in Zul'Drak and while the quests seem like they would be interesting (mainly freeing Argent Crusade people), the spawn/drop rates are terrible, even when you've got an entire sub-zone full of people. I'll be submitting poor feedback for those quests and hopefully we'll see some changes come live.
For one of the coolest quests I've gotten to do, I was able to successfully free a storm giant, and then I spent some time riding around on his head killing level 80 elites. Another very frustrating, but very rewarding quest. If you get several people trying to do this all at the same time, it gets difficult, but at the same time, it's a storm giant, and you're on his head. Geekdom vs. annoyance factor I suppose.
The server has been about stable as can be expected. You get 5-10 minutes of play time, then see 3/4 of your guild go "offline" and know to expect the same. You never quite log in where you left off, but you typically have whatever you logged out with. They also seem to be fixing some of the bugged quests finally, which is nice.
I did the Ampitheater of Anguish a few days ago, finally replaced my Wub's Cursed Hexblade. The AoA is the new Ring of Blood, complete with crowd sound effects. You still make just as much money, and get just as awesome of a weapon at the end. The spell power unification makes gear choices a little more varied, but making a decision also takes more time than usual. However, as a Boomkin, I can use the spirit, and I like that I get to choose more between haste and crit. Hopefully we'll get some haste/crit items this go round in the raiding scene.
I'm hoping to get to 80 soon, as I'd like to see the inside of Naxx. I'm most interested to see if the cat is still around.
I did just finish one of the new daily quests. You get to do dailies while you're leveling. They grant XP on par with other quests from that level, and typically a little higher cash value. This one requires you to take the daily from the Argent Crusade main area in Zul' Drak, then go around to the sub-zones and complete 4 dailies in a half hour. The 4 dailies only grant minimal cash (1.5g) and minimal xp (5300 at 77). However, if you complete all 4 in a half hour, you're eligible for a second daily from the main area that gives you extra xp, extra cash and a stuffed bag. The dailies were fairly easy, except the one from Finkelstein. But all in all, a fun little challenge.
I did some dailies back in Grizzly hills as well, but they all required you to flag PvP. I did get ganked a couple times by a level 77 (i was 73), but those were fairly fun as well. I think this is a great way to let people learn the zones and make some extra cash while leveling.
Well, I just fell asleep at the keyboard, and I'm not sure how long I was out for. I'll cover Bella's progress in the next couple days.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
8/25 - 8/28
I managed to finally hit 75 with Rissa a couple days ago and finally got a new rank of a balance spell. (Just one though). Most of the new ranks seem to be feral and restoration, with very few balance updates so far. I'm hoping in the next 5 levels we'll see some more.
Unfortunately, since I hit 75, I haven't been back to the beta servers. I have however, spent the last two days getting that last level on my rogue and I'm pleased to announce that not only is Keri 70, she has some nice Kara level epics waiting for her. (hooray for alt runs).
I plan to go back to the beta tonight and it's a long weekend and one in which I hope to wrap up Grizzly Hills and head off to either Sholazar Basin or Zul'Drak. I'll keep you guys posted. I'm trying to share my time between live side and beta, so I can get all the alts I had planned on leveling to 70, as well as their mounts, skills, etc, plus continue setting aside money for those money sinks we know are coming in Wrath.
I will give one parting word of advice to those who like flying though. This is considered a Public Service Announcement. It is considered wise to fly low, as when you enter one of the many no-fly zones you are dismounted and dropped (apparently on the spot from what I hear). Welcome to the new rules of flying mounts!
Unfortunately, since I hit 75, I haven't been back to the beta servers. I have however, spent the last two days getting that last level on my rogue and I'm pleased to announce that not only is Keri 70, she has some nice Kara level epics waiting for her. (hooray for alt runs).
I plan to go back to the beta tonight and it's a long weekend and one in which I hope to wrap up Grizzly Hills and head off to either Sholazar Basin or Zul'Drak. I'll keep you guys posted. I'm trying to share my time between live side and beta, so I can get all the alts I had planned on leveling to 70, as well as their mounts, skills, etc, plus continue setting aside money for those money sinks we know are coming in Wrath.
I will give one parting word of advice to those who like flying though. This is considered a Public Service Announcement. It is considered wise to fly low, as when you enter one of the many no-fly zones you are dismounted and dropped (apparently on the spot from what I hear). Welcome to the new rules of flying mounts!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Beta Testing 8/24
Yesterday was my big push to hit 75. Unfortunately, for those who are familiar with the stability of the Beta Servers, this was not meant to be. After several crashes in a row of Northrend, I finally gave up and went to the Death Knight, where I was finally able to complete the final quest in the starter zone and head out to hit level 58. The final quest, while annoying, in that you have to wait for the battle to finish if you got there in the middle, and you have to wait for it to start, (anywhere from 5-20 minutes total) is without a doubt one of the most well done quests I've seen from Blizzard. It's a great finale to what I proclaim as the absolute best starting zone in WoW.
And, I did finally hit 58 so now my deathknight can go to Outlands.
Back to Rissa, I was out and about wandering around Grizzly Hills yesterday when I came across Bambina, Mother of Bambina, Flora the skunk and Thudder the rabbit. They were so cute, I took several screenshots and posted them. They were wandering around together near the the Westfall Brigade. And of course, who better to head up the Westfall Brigade outpost than our friend Gryan Stoutmantle. You might remember him from Westfall.
Of all the quests I did on Rissa yesterday, I have to say I enjoyed the capturing of wild horses the best. The next one was the get away from the worgs of Silverpine Camp. You ride duo with an npc, and while he steers the horse you get to stun, and throw fire upon the worgs that are chasing you. I died once (and they can kill you) before I really got the hang of it and made it back to camp. I enjoy this new caliber of quest where you get to "take over" other items and use them and their abilites. It's a nice game dynamic that adds something unique to the game play.
I plan to finish my quest for 75 tonight, and hopefully I'll make it. For anyone that's reading this that got in the beta, I'm on the Northrend server, in the guild Beta Brigade (we have over 500 members, lol), and you can find me either under Rissa or Itriona. Send me a note, let me know your toon name, and if it's not obvious, how I know you. Hopefully we'll at least get to say hi!
And, I did finally hit 58 so now my deathknight can go to Outlands.
Back to Rissa, I was out and about wandering around Grizzly Hills yesterday when I came across Bambina, Mother of Bambina, Flora the skunk and Thudder the rabbit. They were so cute, I took several screenshots and posted them. They were wandering around together near the the Westfall Brigade. And of course, who better to head up the Westfall Brigade outpost than our friend Gryan Stoutmantle. You might remember him from Westfall.
Of all the quests I did on Rissa yesterday, I have to say I enjoyed the capturing of wild horses the best. The next one was the get away from the worgs of Silverpine Camp. You ride duo with an npc, and while he steers the horse you get to stun, and throw fire upon the worgs that are chasing you. I died once (and they can kill you) before I really got the hang of it and made it back to camp. I enjoy this new caliber of quest where you get to "take over" other items and use them and their abilites. It's a nice game dynamic that adds something unique to the game play.
I plan to finish my quest for 75 tonight, and hopefully I'll make it. For anyone that's reading this that got in the beta, I'm on the Northrend server, in the guild Beta Brigade (we have over 500 members, lol), and you can find me either under Rissa or Itriona. Send me a note, let me know your toon name, and if it's not obvious, how I know you. Hopefully we'll at least get to say hi!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Beta Testing 8/21 - 8/23
We can pretty much skip 8/21 and 8/22 as I didn't log in at all during that time. Sorry guys, I spent time live side doing ZA and Kara with friends. I kind of missed them, since I don't see much of them lately.
Yesterday, however, the continent of Northrend seemed as unstable as ever, not letting me even log in for the first 15 minutes online. I finally gave up, and decided to test out my Death Knight. The opening shots and story are pretty amazing, and you start in Ebon Hold, right next to the Lich King. You take your very first quests from Mograine, Baron Rivendare and Instructor Razuvious. Yep, that's right, you get to interact with several bosses in the game now, including several from Naxx.
The first quest you do gets your the very first weapon you own, teaching you how to Runeforge a weapon. This, and all other items you receive are blue in quality and pretty nice to boot. You get one item to fill every slot , trinkets included before you head out into the world to start questing. You also get to steal a horse and make him your Death Charger, allowing you to get an epic speed mount before you ever hit level 56.
The new Runic power system seems a little clumsy at first, as it takes a bit of getting used to. However, after a while, it starts to make more sense. You start out with a handful of abilities and no talent points, and doing the quests teaches you more spells, as well as awarding talent points to catch you up to the same amount a non-DK of the same level would have. This does require you to have a bit of knowledge about the talent trees, as well as an idea in mind about which direction you want to go.
I'm heading down the Unholy tree first, although I have a feeling I'll be respeccing to try the other trees out as well. Here's a link to my first build http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent=jbZhZfMh0xfoxcq0ssh.
The quests follow a distinct story line, and you move from instance to instance in the timeline with a diffinitive change in how Death's Watch looks each time you change instances. Keep in mind that you may not go back in the time line, so it is very important to finish ALL quests given before going back to Ebon Hold each time you are told to.
I am enjoying the flavor and the distinct difference of the death knight as compared to all the other alts that I have and while I gave some negative feedback for a couple of quests that were much more difficult than they really needed to be, the opening quest chains are so unique in all of the starter zones I've done, that I really recommend that even if you don't plan on having a death knight, you at least do the opening quests so you can see and interact with the lore yourself.
Yesterday, however, the continent of Northrend seemed as unstable as ever, not letting me even log in for the first 15 minutes online. I finally gave up, and decided to test out my Death Knight. The opening shots and story are pretty amazing, and you start in Ebon Hold, right next to the Lich King. You take your very first quests from Mograine, Baron Rivendare and Instructor Razuvious. Yep, that's right, you get to interact with several bosses in the game now, including several from Naxx.
The first quest you do gets your the very first weapon you own, teaching you how to Runeforge a weapon. This, and all other items you receive are blue in quality and pretty nice to boot. You get one item to fill every slot , trinkets included before you head out into the world to start questing. You also get to steal a horse and make him your Death Charger, allowing you to get an epic speed mount before you ever hit level 56.
The new Runic power system seems a little clumsy at first, as it takes a bit of getting used to. However, after a while, it starts to make more sense. You start out with a handful of abilities and no talent points, and doing the quests teaches you more spells, as well as awarding talent points to catch you up to the same amount a non-DK of the same level would have. This does require you to have a bit of knowledge about the talent trees, as well as an idea in mind about which direction you want to go.
I'm heading down the Unholy tree first, although I have a feeling I'll be respeccing to try the other trees out as well. Here's a link to my first build http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?talent=jbZhZfMh0xfoxcq0ssh.
The quests follow a distinct story line, and you move from instance to instance in the timeline with a diffinitive change in how Death's Watch looks each time you change instances. Keep in mind that you may not go back in the time line, so it is very important to finish ALL quests given before going back to Ebon Hold each time you are told to.
I am enjoying the flavor and the distinct difference of the death knight as compared to all the other alts that I have and while I gave some negative feedback for a couple of quests that were much more difficult than they really needed to be, the opening quest chains are so unique in all of the starter zones I've done, that I really recommend that even if you don't plan on having a death knight, you at least do the opening quests so you can see and interact with the lore yourself.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Beta Testing 8/17/08 - 8/20/08
As you might have noticed, I went from tracking days in the beta to actual dates. I'm having some trouble remembering how many days I've played and I don't want to have to keep recounting. Also, thanks to everyone who's mentioned they like hearing about the beta and are pushing for me to keep blogging.
The past few days have been a little busy. To start, last night I didn't log in at all to the beta, instead choosing to split my time between the Olympics and Live-side, doing ZA. It was nice to see my friends, and spend some time with my hubby. Well worth the time not spent in beta.
Two days ago, the 19th I worked on a few quests in Grizzly Hills and did a lot of exploring of that zone. It really reminds me of the California Redwoods. I saw lots of Grizzly bears, a few imperial eagles and quite a bit of stag. Most of the zone seems like it would have just a slight breeze, and be around 60 degrees, except where it butts up against the Howling Fjord. There, you will find snow covered trees, ground and mountains.
I found the dwarven city in the Grizzly Hills. It's very dwarven looking, standard stone buildings, but the shapes of the buildings, with the stone columns and the glowing runes on the front of the city make this one of the most unique settlements I've seen. It seems to be defended by runic dwarves, from the attacking runic golems.
I also found a troll city, with the coolest skull torches lining the path up to the city. It's near one of the stair cases up to Zul'Drak, and as you get closer to the stair, there seem to be hundreds of trolls running around the stairs. The main town, Amber Lodge, sends you to an outpost near there to deal with their threat, although I haven't done the quests yet.
I also did a quest chain that took me to a very nordic looking settlement. I was ordered to kill many of the fighters, and obtain some of the flame-binders proto-drake talismans. Once I had enough proto-drake talismans, I was ordered to use them on the leaders favorite proto-drake to take over his mount, and slay the leader. Once again, Blizz makes clever use of the "taking over" of an item to be able to use it's abilities. The thing I found funny here was that I stealthed to the dragon, so when I took it over I was in cat form, and I ended up in cat form on its back. It looked most hilarious to see a cat riding a proto-drake. One of the benefits to these types of quests is that you are then able to solo elite mobs. This makes you feel a little more powerful, but adds a very interesting dynamic to the game.
I also found an entire settlement full of daily quests. I have yet to try any of them, but the first time you do them they award cash, and decent xp, so I'll probably give them a try at the very least. Cash seems to be no problem, as just with the quests I've done, I've made about 1200g. Unfortunately, everything on a beta server is 100 times as expensive as it should be, so for now, I'm just waiting to hit 80 and sink my money into a Dalaran teleport ring.
This weekend, as I was wrapping up quests in Dragonblight, I decided to have a go at Azjol-Nerub. It was one of the most well done instances I've encountered. Very short and sweet. The whole instance is ~9 pulls long and a well organized group can do this instance in about 15-20 minutes. I've heard tales that a group experienced with the instance can do it in less than 15. Should make this one a highly sought after heroic, even with only 3 bosses. It is nerubian based, and the packs you fight are quite large, meant to test your endurance. The boss fights are intriguing and the instance has a very "Journey to the Center of the Earth" feel, complete with a jump down a very deep hole. The mushrooms are rainbow colored, and overly large, and you run on both the ground, and spider webs, which makes things even more interesting.
After Azjol-Nerub, we traveled over to Zul'Drak and visited Drak-Thol. This 5 man tooks us roughly an hour to complete. One of the boss fights is very Vashj like in that when you engage the boss, he goes immune under 4 crystals and starts spawning mobs. As you kill mobs, the crystals break, and when all 4 break, you can dps the boss. The last boss of this instance, a dragon, turns you into a skeleton for about 30-ish seconds, every 30-ish seconds. Transformed, your main action bar changes much like it does when you take over a piece on the chessboard of Kara, or turn into a ghost at gorefiend. You then use the skellies abilities to kill the boss.
During both of these instances, I was specced Resto. (I know, unheard of for me). While I wouldn't want to spec resto permanently, I certainly didn't mind it and found it a new type of challenge. Flourish seems like a good spell for the mana cost and talent point. And trees got a little boost, being able to keep up with the main party speed wise, and being able to cast all their healing spells in tree form, including the previoulsy excluded Healing Touch. I would say trees are no longer gimped in their use, but will probably be a little more widely used, with a wider range in spells.
I do plan on logging in to the beta tonight, I'll update you tomorrow on what new things I find in Grizzly Hills.
The past few days have been a little busy. To start, last night I didn't log in at all to the beta, instead choosing to split my time between the Olympics and Live-side, doing ZA. It was nice to see my friends, and spend some time with my hubby. Well worth the time not spent in beta.
Two days ago, the 19th I worked on a few quests in Grizzly Hills and did a lot of exploring of that zone. It really reminds me of the California Redwoods. I saw lots of Grizzly bears, a few imperial eagles and quite a bit of stag. Most of the zone seems like it would have just a slight breeze, and be around 60 degrees, except where it butts up against the Howling Fjord. There, you will find snow covered trees, ground and mountains.
I found the dwarven city in the Grizzly Hills. It's very dwarven looking, standard stone buildings, but the shapes of the buildings, with the stone columns and the glowing runes on the front of the city make this one of the most unique settlements I've seen. It seems to be defended by runic dwarves, from the attacking runic golems.
I also found a troll city, with the coolest skull torches lining the path up to the city. It's near one of the stair cases up to Zul'Drak, and as you get closer to the stair, there seem to be hundreds of trolls running around the stairs. The main town, Amber Lodge, sends you to an outpost near there to deal with their threat, although I haven't done the quests yet.
I also did a quest chain that took me to a very nordic looking settlement. I was ordered to kill many of the fighters, and obtain some of the flame-binders proto-drake talismans. Once I had enough proto-drake talismans, I was ordered to use them on the leaders favorite proto-drake to take over his mount, and slay the leader. Once again, Blizz makes clever use of the "taking over" of an item to be able to use it's abilities. The thing I found funny here was that I stealthed to the dragon, so when I took it over I was in cat form, and I ended up in cat form on its back. It looked most hilarious to see a cat riding a proto-drake. One of the benefits to these types of quests is that you are then able to solo elite mobs. This makes you feel a little more powerful, but adds a very interesting dynamic to the game.
I also found an entire settlement full of daily quests. I have yet to try any of them, but the first time you do them they award cash, and decent xp, so I'll probably give them a try at the very least. Cash seems to be no problem, as just with the quests I've done, I've made about 1200g. Unfortunately, everything on a beta server is 100 times as expensive as it should be, so for now, I'm just waiting to hit 80 and sink my money into a Dalaran teleport ring.
This weekend, as I was wrapping up quests in Dragonblight, I decided to have a go at Azjol-Nerub. It was one of the most well done instances I've encountered. Very short and sweet. The whole instance is ~9 pulls long and a well organized group can do this instance in about 15-20 minutes. I've heard tales that a group experienced with the instance can do it in less than 15. Should make this one a highly sought after heroic, even with only 3 bosses. It is nerubian based, and the packs you fight are quite large, meant to test your endurance. The boss fights are intriguing and the instance has a very "Journey to the Center of the Earth" feel, complete with a jump down a very deep hole. The mushrooms are rainbow colored, and overly large, and you run on both the ground, and spider webs, which makes things even more interesting.
After Azjol-Nerub, we traveled over to Zul'Drak and visited Drak-Thol. This 5 man tooks us roughly an hour to complete. One of the boss fights is very Vashj like in that when you engage the boss, he goes immune under 4 crystals and starts spawning mobs. As you kill mobs, the crystals break, and when all 4 break, you can dps the boss. The last boss of this instance, a dragon, turns you into a skeleton for about 30-ish seconds, every 30-ish seconds. Transformed, your main action bar changes much like it does when you take over a piece on the chessboard of Kara, or turn into a ghost at gorefiend. You then use the skellies abilities to kill the boss.
During both of these instances, I was specced Resto. (I know, unheard of for me). While I wouldn't want to spec resto permanently, I certainly didn't mind it and found it a new type of challenge. Flourish seems like a good spell for the mana cost and talent point. And trees got a little boost, being able to keep up with the main party speed wise, and being able to cast all their healing spells in tree form, including the previoulsy excluded Healing Touch. I would say trees are no longer gimped in their use, but will probably be a little more widely used, with a wider range in spells.
I do plan on logging in to the beta tonight, I'll update you tomorrow on what new things I find in Grizzly Hills.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Beta Testing Days Seven -Nine
Well, I had an extremely busy week and apparently the blog lost the post I wrote on Thursday morning. Tuesday, the beta server was up and down, and I eventually gave up trying to log in. After it crashed the first two times, there were no mobs on the world anywhere, and I gave up and went live side.
Wednesday, I had an appt in the evening and so by the time I got home it was after 8:30. I spent the time watching the Olympics and simply getting myself back to a resting place. Thursday, raid was called live-side, so the hubby and I went to dinner and a movie.
So...we get around to Friday night. I have to admit that I'm still rather distracted by the Olympics, but I do manage to quest out most of Wintergarde Keep. I then get to ride double behind an NPC on a gryphon out to Thorson's Post, near the Carrion Fields, which was cool in itself, and then I was ordered to take an alliance siege engine over and go destroy some plague wagons. I have to say out of all the quests I've done so far in the beta, this is by and far my favorite. The siege engine allows you to freeze and blast the mobs, while when you get near a siege engine you deploy a gnome mechanic to dismantle it, then blast away, keeping them safe. Blizz seems to be doing a lot of these types of quests where you use actions of an item, or a gryphon, etc in order to complete quest objectives. I find this a unique approach to completing quests, so we'll have to see if they keep it similar in the future zones.
Once I completed that quest, I was ordered to rescue some munitions, which was relatively easy, and then as I was getting ready to move on to a quest to rescue some alliance guys using a cannon, my computer crashed. And sadly, I realized that the cord had come unplugged and I was unable to keep playing as the battery was dead.
Among the screen shots from yesterday, you'll find some of the death knight flying mount. I have to say that I thought the death knight epic ground mount was sick, but really, the flying mount is even better. You'll have to peruse through the screenshots to see it. I also found a camp on a snowed in hill, but with a boat, and that was also a little strange.
I did find that with them changing the xp required between levels, I went from 4 bubbles from 74, to less than halfway through 73. That was a little bit of a bummer. Also, with the changed mechanics of spell costs, I'm finding the need to sit and drink a little bit more often than before. It'll be interesting to see what the final level 80 costs of the spells end up being.
Today I won't be playing a whole lot, mainly just getting myself back to an inn, as I have D&D in about an hour.
Wednesday, I had an appt in the evening and so by the time I got home it was after 8:30. I spent the time watching the Olympics and simply getting myself back to a resting place. Thursday, raid was called live-side, so the hubby and I went to dinner and a movie.
So...we get around to Friday night. I have to admit that I'm still rather distracted by the Olympics, but I do manage to quest out most of Wintergarde Keep. I then get to ride double behind an NPC on a gryphon out to Thorson's Post, near the Carrion Fields, which was cool in itself, and then I was ordered to take an alliance siege engine over and go destroy some plague wagons. I have to say out of all the quests I've done so far in the beta, this is by and far my favorite. The siege engine allows you to freeze and blast the mobs, while when you get near a siege engine you deploy a gnome mechanic to dismantle it, then blast away, keeping them safe. Blizz seems to be doing a lot of these types of quests where you use actions of an item, or a gryphon, etc in order to complete quest objectives. I find this a unique approach to completing quests, so we'll have to see if they keep it similar in the future zones.
Once I completed that quest, I was ordered to rescue some munitions, which was relatively easy, and then as I was getting ready to move on to a quest to rescue some alliance guys using a cannon, my computer crashed. And sadly, I realized that the cord had come unplugged and I was unable to keep playing as the battery was dead.
Among the screen shots from yesterday, you'll find some of the death knight flying mount. I have to say that I thought the death knight epic ground mount was sick, but really, the flying mount is even better. You'll have to peruse through the screenshots to see it. I also found a camp on a snowed in hill, but with a boat, and that was also a little strange.
I did find that with them changing the xp required between levels, I went from 4 bubbles from 74, to less than halfway through 73. That was a little bit of a bummer. Also, with the changed mechanics of spell costs, I'm finding the need to sit and drink a little bit more often than before. It'll be interesting to see what the final level 80 costs of the spells end up being.
Today I won't be playing a whole lot, mainly just getting myself back to an inn, as I have D&D in about an hour.
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