Level 80, huzzah!
Unfortunately I’m still wearing half the stuff I had at level 70 in my tanking gear, though I’m getting there slowly. Should be uncrittable soon – currently at 427 and I still need to make my new goggles and replace a couple of other bits.
Hopefully I’ll be ready for Naxxramas soon.
The Wrathgate questline is simply awesome. I’m not going to spoil it for those who haven’t yet done it, but it’s a very much far-reaching and vast line that has visible results on the Dragonblight zone when you finish it. Quite awesome!
It involves the death of a major figure from lore, and the repercussions of that event everywhere else, culminating in a huge battle in Undercity alongside Varian Wrynn. To say that it’s amazing would be to give it its due. However, it also shows a side of King Varian’s personality that I never want to see again. He is a revenge-obsessed, warlike xenophobe. How long, I wonder, before he decides that all the non-humans in the world, including elves of all types, dwarves and gnomes, are equally untrustworthy? I’m vaguely aware of the lore reasons, but his reactions still seem way over the top.
At least the Forsaken are openly evil. There’s going to be a lot more War in the World of Warcraft soon, I gather.
So, level 72 now. What have I learned so far about the Lich King and his plan to destroy the world?
Very little, I’m afraid.
Instead I’ve been finding out about the origin of the Gnomish race, by following the questlines around the Fizzcrank Airstrip. It feels like Gnomeregan as it ought to have been, very much more polished than any of the old-world stuff, and I highly enjoyed it.
Similarly the Coldarra quests. They all felt very well put together, feeding into The Nexus, which I’ve now run 3 times (and only on the third did I have any quests). Once you know the storyline behind the place it feels a lot more rich, so I’m going to put some effort into getting as many instance quests as I can before venturing into the remaining dungeons.
Oh, and Dalaran is awesome. It feels a lot more like a city than Shattrath ever did. Now all I need is my flying mount back and I’ll be set…
… you don’t talk about Lich King Club.
The second rule of Lich King Club is, no whining.
A day into Lich King, and it’s very pretty. A lot of work has been put into the art, I’ll grant that. Utgarde Keep was an instance I thoroughly enjoyed – a different feel, a different look. Unfortunately I then went to The Nexus. It feels a lot like Botanica part 2. So much so that nothing there felt really fresh.
Unfortunately I’m very busy this weekend so I won’t necessarily get a lot of time to play, but I’m looking forward to the new quest areas and level 80 raiding a lot more than more 5-man runs. I guess I’ve remembered the gear grind to get to uncrittable from 70, and I’m in no real hurry to repeat it.
I’ll enjoy levelling to 80 – some of the quests are fantastic already – but the gear grind isn’t something I’m in a hurry to repeat.
