Thoughts on Warcraft and WotLK

Still trying to process how I feel about what happened during Thanksgiving. We shall see if writing about something else first helps or not.

First thoughts on Wrath. It's excellent. The Death Knight class, and the questline you go through as you create one was very impressive. The zones on the new continent (at least so far) are very well laid out, with questsgivers very efficiently organized in centers, with lots of breadcrumb quests to allow you to move on when you feel ready. Vehicles are an amusing diversion so far, but I expect they will become more advanced as I level up. Lots of variety, the graphics look great, lots of vactions with rewards worth getting. All in all, a very impresive creation.

Now, the race from 70 to 80. I missed out on the first expansion 2 years ago, so I really didn't know what to expect. And because of my vacation, I didn't play much for the first week and a half. Two and a half weeks in, I've noticed a few definite trends in my guild. As of today, there are twelve people at the new cap of 80. Every night, there are runs of heroic instances. Below the cap, though, there are 2-4 people at each level, and the number actually on-line at any given time is lower still. As a result, putting together a group of five people at the appropriate level for a given instance is a slower and much less frequent occurance. This is consistent with what I've seen with other releases of new content - some are in a position to surf the wave, scooping up new experiences and rewards with their comrades, while others pick their way along in the wake as best they can and try to not fall too far behind. It's a little frustrating, being behind the wave and seeing people showing off their shiny new loots in guild chat, while knowing that no one would give a damn about my generic quest rewards. I hope that we don't end up with a situation where the early 80s don't decide to go off and become a 10-man raiding group, rather than waiting for enough people to level and gear up to do 25s.

On a more positive note, my story of the Death Knight Vyprania was a huge success. I enjoyed writing something very different from the usual light NeedMoreRage fare, and the comments I got, as well as verbal feedback from friends, were extremely positive.

Sleepy, so Ima gonna stop here.

Night!