Fluffykin, Worgen Prot Warrior

Fluffykin, Worgen Prot Warrior

Sunday, November 14, 2010

WoW Player No More

As the title suggests, I have quit WoW completely as of a couple weeks ago. I saw it coming as I hadn't even touched the live servers for a couple months before and was just trying to level my warrior more before quitting. This and some RL time sinks are why I haven't had any updates for over a month. Though I no longer play I did get Fluffykin to around level 73 before quitting, and do have a bit more content to share I will upload soon in a probably-final update.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Pirates, Jetpacks, and Bugs

I know it's been a while since the last update but rest assured I have still been leveling.
After finishing off north and south STV I mostly leveled through dungeons until I could start questing in Tanaris. It was a fairly fun zone in live and infinitely more so in Cataclysm. Apparently since the ocean flooded inland towards Gadgetzan some people were stranded because of it, and it up to you to rescue them. One of the first quests, given by a gnome, has you rescuing them by piloting a hot air balloon and tossing rocket packs at them while shooting pirates along the way. As if that weren't awesome enough, once finished you exit the balloon and are shot back to Gadgetzan by jetpack.
Unlike on live, Tanaris is absolutely loaded with quests, all quite fun. I've leveled there longer than any other zone so far and still had plenty of quests available before moving on. I especially liked the new arena quests there, like a level 47 Ring of Blood chain but a bit easier. There are also quite a few unique rewards, like a trinket that summons a goblin nurse to heal you. Tanaris is definitely the way to go for leveling 45-50.
Eventually the point came when I had to move on and Un'goro Crater was the next step. Same as Tanaris, you can notice the changes immediately on entering the zone, though it's mainly improved graphics instead of changed landscapes that stand out here. It seems that those mysterious stone guardians have forced everyone out of Marshal's Refuge and they seem to be split between two new neutral goblin camps. As you would expect by now, far more quests here too. There are fun ones early on such as baiting some basilisks into spike traps but there was one here that stands out and I'd have to say is the most fun quest I've ever done.
Maybe 10 quests in or so you can get some from the southern town for the silithid hive. There's one or two standard kill the bugs and loot them quests, but the main one is a 3 man group quest (can be done solo) for killing the Gorishi Fledgling Colossus. It lives at the bottom of the hive and is scaled so it can be done solo but takes about 2 minutes to kill. What makes this so outstanding is that it's essentially a boss but scaled to be done solo or in a small group. There's a periodic poison nova ability you have to dodge each time by breaking LoS and it goes underground after each one, usually trying to get behind you. Elite quests that can be done solo are nothing new but they are generally very easy, with maybe one ability that doesn't do much. I've been told there's at least one quest like this (in Uldum) and if that's the case I definitely look forward to it.
Currently I'm almost at level 54 and will try to update more often. No new vids yet (will when I hit Outland) but I do have quite a few more screenshots in the Worgen Leveling folder on my site, and added one showing water/weather effects. I do recommend you check them out. The water effects improved again last patch, and there are more fun quests than I could describe without making a wall of text.
All screenshots can be found here or using the link in the box to the right.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Content Update - Screenshots and Vids

I now have all my screenshots uploaded to my personal site as well as a couple vids, one showing my warrior in action. The screenshots can be viewed here, and videos can be viewed here. Currently I have 4 beta vids. One is a clear of Blackrock Caverns on my priest and  (Forgot to record second boss) the newest is a clear of Razorfen Downs on my warrior. I also have one showing the worgen transformation and the final shows the worgen racial, dance, and jokes.
I'll have them all on Youtube soon in case you don't like waiting on downloads, but these are all much higher quality.
Below are the Youtube uploads of them. This will be updated once I submit the other two.
Worgen Transformation
Worgen Racial, Dance, Jokes
Tanking Razorfen Downs
Blackrock Caverns healed on my priest
I highly suggest you view all fullscreen in 1080p.

(Edit: Now have all the vids available on Youtube as well as by download.)

Saturday, September 11, 2010

First Steps in Exile

In the final opening quests you're forced away from Gilneas for reasons I won't mention. (Won't spoil the entire plot for you.) Now you're level 12 and in Darnassus, free to continue leveling anywhere. At first I decided to follow the natural chain of events and quested in Darkshore. This zone was greatly changed by the Cataclysm, with the main town of Auberdine completely destroyed.
The questing experience here was greatly improved, with far more quests available than before. Several of them make use of phasing and the new indicator arrows to point out certain quest objectives. I did around 20-30 quests here to find I was a bit too high level for everything in the zone so I wasn't getting the best EXP possible. At level 15 (after making good use of the dungeon tool just unlocked) I decided to go elsewhere. The human low level zones (Westfall - Stranglethorn Vale) are my favorite so I took the boat to Stormwind and ran to Redridge Mountains.
Right at the western edge of the zone there was a new guard tower, with several quests available before even reaching Lakeshire. Upon finishing them and reaching Lakeshire, the first difference I noticed was the bridge. Currently one of the NPCs on live is always talking about finishing construction and here it's complete. Once again, many more quests are available here and go more smoothly than before. The questing experience seems to have been overhauled completely throughout Azeroth. Being that I like this zone, I quested here until 20 or 21 though I still seemed to level past the zone before completing much of the quests.
It's worth noting that about this time I finally learned about the new hierloom items, the head and cloak slot ones. Apparently (at least in that build of the beta) they were all available from the guild vendor for free. With those I got a 15% experience bonus that makes the levels fly by, especially since being a tank means I can get in dungeons quickly.
There were other interesting items the guild vendor had like new pets and the Dark Pheonix mount, but the items were all placeholders with no actual effects yet so no idea as to the coolness or the cost of them, though I'm sure they will all require some amount of guild reputation.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Retaking the Homeland

On being freed you find out you've been insane from the worgen curse for quite some time, long enough that Prince Greymane calls the previous events the old days. At this point all surviving Gilneans are either in town (I can't recall the name of it) or in the woods nearby. Shortly after you awaken the town is raided by Forsaken by boat and there is a short quest chain to stop them, ending with you jumping onto two of the boats and killing their commanders. It's also worth mentioning that during these events, the Cataclysm happens while you're in a basement turning in a quest.
Once the undead have been handled, the Prince decides it's best to evacuate the area since they're likely to return in greater force. You do a few side quests to round up everyone into town, then are sent up a large hill to Greymane Manor, which was previously unreachable due to being blocked by a gate. You speak with King Greymane and he arranges for caravans to transport everyone.
Now clearly the people of Gilneas haven't had quite enough misfortune yet, so while going down a hill the whole lot of them crash. You have to help gather everyone again, then you walk to another nearby town on the edge of a forest that looks like an improved version of Duskwood. Through more questing you venture into the forest, help unite everyone in deciding to retake Gilneas, and do a quest that grants you balance between your human and worgen side, letting you switch between the two forms at will. At this point you've just recently hit level 10 and got to choose your talent spec.
Now to prevent this from being a massive wall of text and to prevent spoilers, let's just say you do eventually finish off all your business on the island and the end quests are quite fun. Supposedly there will be a video to play at the end of the starting chain, but it wasn't yet implemented in the beta. By the time you've finished here you're level 12. Again, here are some relevant screenshots and even more will be uploaded to palolo.us soon. (There are no major spoilers in the screenshots I posted here, but there are plenty on my personal site, so you might not want to check them if you don't want to ruin the story line.)

Monday, August 30, 2010

Transformation

Upon first creating a worgen character, you begin as human citizen of Gilneas at the same time shadowy figures are seen leaping between the rooftops. It seems worgen have come to slaughter your fellow kinsmen and in the opening quest chain you play a large part in holding back the worgen and aiding the evacuation of the city. During this time you are bitten by one of the invading worgen and can see the effects of the wound progress as you continue.
Around level 5 you finish your work of evacuating Gilneas and after a cutscene (omitted in beta since it's not yet implemented) you awaken some time later in a stockade, mad from the curse that caused your transformation. Genn Graymane, the leader of Gilneas comes to see you and orders that a final attempt be made to help you gain a grip on your humanity. Here you're fed a potion that tames the beast within and you're seen fit to be released to help your fellow refugees. Your work is only beginning...

Here are some choice screenshots from the early (still inside Gilneas) parts of the worgen starting experience:

I'm making a ton of screenshots as I play, so if you're interested in seeing more I have them uploaded on my personal site and you can view them here. I frequently add more and try to keep them somewhat organized by zone or relevance.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Beginnings

Hello there! As some of you World of Warcraft players might know, the beta testing for the Cataclysm expansion is well underway. I've been lucky enough to join in it, though most players can't say the same. What I intend to do is share with you some of the exciting new content available.
I've played 6 classes up to level 80 thus far, and a warrior was likely going to be my next choice, though currently they are a bit dull to play at low levels, but I decided to give leveling a warrior another try in the beta, this time as a worgen. It presents an excellent opportunity to see the new talent changes as well as the worgen starting area content.
Here I'll share with you my experiences leveling my worgen warrior, Fluffykin, as well as provide a great deal of screenshots and even some videos. I'm a bit late starting this as he's already at level 28 now, but that just means I have more to share.