WoW: Patch Week

WoW: Patch Week

New content, new scenery, new toys and more: I’m pretty happy.

My first day was a bit rocky and it was all my own fault. One of the first quests to get you out and exploring was to open treasure chests and right out the door was our first treasure chest and it was a jumping puzzle.

I am terrible at jumping and often bribe a friend to carry me on their stag form or even in the choppa to do the jumping for me. So, I was very frustrated – until I went exploring. And then it was, “oh, look, a chest right over there”. Someday I’ll be a gamer.

The zone design is nice and big, at least while we are ground bound. Maybe double the size of Korthia, I’d venture. And we are a bit weak right now at the start and that is expected. The designers need to time it out because right now there is a whole bunch of players racing to kill that big elite 63. As time moves on, there will be fewer players and we need to be stronger with fewer.

I like that they’ve dialed back the grind. The grind, if you call it that, is three dailies and one (soon to be) weekly bar to fill which can be filled in a day or two. Today I did my dailies and kicked back for a bit; and then decided to hunt rares for a while. This is all morning play, not all-day play.

Most of the gear drops are 233 with enhancements (a boost to movement and mount speed, for example) and below my heroic ilevel from the last raid. So, I brought over my LFR hunter to look around and play too; he loves this new gear. I have seen 239 gear and my guildie got a 245ish. So, the gear-up is sweet if you play (and survive). And, thank Elune, the grave yards are everywhere so it is a short run back after a failure.

Skip fishing! The new fish is only used for the Stone Soup recipe. Same with the Protoflesh off of mobs. No need to grind any of the profession stuff that I can see. The new herb, First Flower, can be used for a better health pot, but ho hum on that.

I have earned some toys and pets. I like one toy that is a fruit basket which flings fruit and, this is great, it is channeled but you can move! So, you can run through your friends flinging odd fruit. Good silly fun.

As I type this I’m not sure of direction but, if memory serves, to the South is easier and more settled and as you venture North it gets less safe and the mobs get scarier. This is good design when you are first scouting about the patch.

The raid is time-gated until another week. We’ll fly in three weeks. There is plenty of discovery and exploration. I’ve yet to try the gauntlet-style of Torghast, still have to do that. I’d like to see Tavesh now that it is split into two zones. I have pets to capture AND pets to make along with mounts to make (all in good time).

All in all, I’m pretty happy. It is sad, to me, to see blogger Gnomecore drop WoW; he is a very good writer and entertaining to read. But, people move on!