World of Warcraft: Cataclysm

[Mordrak]

That is the old version of the Armory, which is no longer being updated with new content; it will eventually go away, like the old forums. The new Battle.net info for your character is here, and contains all the new items. they still don’t have everything up and running on the Battle.net side yet, but the basic character/talent/achievement info is all there, in a much better display than the old Armory stats.

Thanks! I booked marked the new site.

[mystery]

Azshara is soooo cool now. From rocket-rollarcoasters, to Raptors in Space, to the Gob Squad, to UNMITIGATED BADASSERY, Blizzard did a hella job with the zone.

I’d have to agree – my Troll Druid is now 21 and I’m departing that zone with some measure of sorrow. I’m not dissing the fast progression, mind you – after hitting the alt ceiling in WoW a number of times, I’m all for fast progression. I just loved what they did to that zone, is all.

According to WoWhead, there are some post-80 quests there as well, so perhaps we’ll be back.

[Kryten]

Finished up in Swamp of Sorrows last night and I really like how they handled a lot of the “old” Sunken Temple content - everything outside the instance is now linked to the main quest giver and you get multiple quests to run into and out of the instance, killing all of the old mini bosses. The environment changes are great in the zone and it’s worth a visit if you’re Alliance.

I went from 54 to 55 in 27 minutes doing only quests in SoS. Paladin’s are EZ Mode :p

[Kurdel]

Thousand Needles is such an awesome zone.

A platform town with bickering Gnomes and Goblins? Instigate bar fights? Zone-specific BOAT MOUNT?!?!?

There is also an awesome quest where you kill a Troll. I won’t spoil it, but it is my favourite WoW quest ever.

This game is so fucking awesome.

[Andy_Bates]

Can I spoil the troll 1-5 starting area? There are a lot of really cool thngs about it, but I can’t really discuss them without giving some stuff away. The spoiler-free version is, I’m level 5 and I already feel like I have war stories. If you want to hear my tale, I’ll share it.

[sinnick]

I’d have to agree – my Troll Druid is now 21 and I’m departing that zone with some measure of sorrow. I’m not dissing the fast progression, mind you – after hitting the alt ceiling in WoW a number of times, I’m all for fast progression. I just loved what they did to that zone, is all.

According to WoWhead, there are some post-80 quests there as well, so perhaps we’ll be back.

How easy is it to get a low level toon of a different race over there? I’m levelling a human, and so far Elwynne doesn’t seem too different. I’d like to check out the new Azshara.

[malkav11]

The old world revamp works because fundamentally speaking, it was just a collection of places with their own little mininarratives and such. There was next to no overarching story. So you just update what’s going on in each spot, and you’re good to go. I honestly can’t see revamping Outland or Northrend to a modern spot in the timeline without destroying a whole ton of cool stuff, including all the raids. I mean, Wrath has significant subplots (Malygos going crazy, the malign influence of Yogg-Saron, etc), but it is fundamentally about Alliance, Horde, Argent Crusade, and Ebon Blade forces fighting the minions of the Lich King and learning about his goals, weaknesses, and so forth in order to finally bring him down. You update it to a post Lich King timeframe and you just for starters have to completely remove Naxxramas, the Argent Tournament (including the Trial of the Crusader), and Icecrown Citadel, and almost certainly have to yank the Eye of Eternity and Ulduar as well as almost every 5-man dungeon in the entirety of Northrend. And, well, maybe someday it might be worth it, but I’d just as soon they leave things be for quite a while.

[DragonPup]

Azshara is a Horde zone now connected with Orgrimmar.

[theblackw0lf]

Man the new Westfall storyline is really good.

I never played through the Lich King plotline, so if it’s half as good as this I can’t wait.

[Andy_Bates]

That must be pretty immersion-breaking for new players. They’ll do level 1-60 quests in a post-Cata world where the Lich King has already been defeated then go to Outland and Northrend for the 60-80 experience to participate in events that took place chronologically before the shattering.

I disagree completely. The “post-Cata world” is pretty much the same with regards to the Lich King. It’s not like you start your Level 1 quest giver goes, “Hey, I need you to kill ten boars…and man, isn’t it great that the Lich King was defeated?” The Lich King rarely if ever comes up as a topic of conversation, so I don’t see how it’s “immersion-breaking.”

[sinnick]

Azshara is a Horde zone now connected with Orgrimmar.

Ah, really? Crap. Oh well, I guess there are a lot of other new things to see.

[theblackw0lf]

I disagree completely. The “post-Cata world” is pretty much the same with regards to the Lich King. It’s not like you start your Level 1 quest giver goes, “Hey, I need you to kill ten boars…and man, isn’t it great that the Lich King was defeated?” The Lich King rarely if ever comes up as a topic of conversation, so I don’t see how it’s “immersion-breaking.”

Well considering the Human intro starts out about how the King has arrived back in Stormwind after the defeat of the Lich King, and how people keep saying how the fight in Northrend had a devestating effect on the various lands (like Westfall) yea I’d say it’s a bit of an immersion breaker.

[sinnick]

I disagree completely. The “post-Cata world” is pretty much the same with regards to the Lich King. It’s not like you start your Level 1 quest giver goes, “Hey, I need you to kill ten boars…and man, isn’t it great that the Lich King was defeated?” The Lich King rarely if ever comes up as a topic of conversation, so I don’t see how it’s “immersion-breaking.”

The opening voice-over narration for a lvl1 human player mentions the Lich King. It’s literally the very first thing a player hears.

That said, I don’t necessarily find it any more immersion-breaking than being able to do the same dungeon over and over. WoW isn’t really known for its immersion that way, I just roll with it.

[MarchHare]

I guess why I find it immersion-breaking is because the focus of this expansion has been about how the world has changed and time has passed. I know most people don’t care about the lore at all, but it irks me that a new player will experience post-shattering 1-60 content, then take a jaunt into the in-game past to participate in pre-shattering events in Outland and Northrend, then return to the “present” for the 80-85 zones.

I understand completely why Blizzard didn’t update the TBC and Wrath zones, but I it still bugs me.

A good example of this is in Western Plaguelands. There’s now a quest chain (at least for Alliance) where you work with Thassarian to mop up the remnants of the now-directionless Scourge in Anderhol and liberate the city. A <60 player might do that series of quests and then later head to Northrend where the Lich King and the Scourge are presented as a huge threat even though players were told previously that the LK had been defeated.

[Vincent19]

Yea, it’s best to just take WoW’s story lines as they come and not worry too much about chronology and perfect logic.

I mean, not only has the Lich King been killed, he’s been killed like 10,000 times.

[TheTrunkDr]

I guess why I find it immersion-breaking is because the focus of this expansion has been about how the world has changed and time has passed. I know most people don’t care about the lore at all, but it irks me that a new player will experience post-shattering 1-60 content, then take a jaunt into the in-game past to participate in pre-shattering events in Outland and Northrend, then return to the “present” for the 80-85 zones.

I understand completely why Blizzard didn’t update the TBC and Wrath zones, but I it still bugs me.

A good example of this is in Western Plaguelands. There’s now a quest chain (at least for Alliance) where you work with Thassarian to mop up the remnants of the now-directionless Scourge in Anderhol and liberate the city. A <60 player might do that series of quests and then later head to Northrend where the Lich King and the Scourge are presented as a huge threat even though players were told previously that the LK had been defeated.

That does seem odd. I think a nifty thing to do would be to move the entrances to the caverns of time. That way they can keep the zones as they are, but claim the characters are going back in time when they enter them. This also gives reason why the portals in those zones no longer work. This keeps the fiction reasonable and keeps them from having to change the zones.

[DragonPup]

Ah, really? Crap. Oh well, I guess there are a lot of other new things to see.

Once you hit 10 its a great place to level.

[sinnick]

Once you hit 10 its a great place to level.

Not for Alliance :).

[HRose]

Slight design silliness: In Orgrimmar there’s a daily fishing quest. Right now there are about five people fishing around the NPC.

Only that if you look at the map you notice that the quest wants you to fish at the other side of the city. Which isn’t even well specified in the quest text.

This about quest designers now relying way too much on quest waypoints.

[mystery]

Slight design silliness: In Orgrimmar there’s a daily fishing quest. Right now there are about five people fishing around the NPC.

Only that if you look at the map you notice that the quest wants you to fish at the other side of the city. Which isn’t even well specified in the quest text.

This about quest designers now relying way too much on quest waypoints.

So far, I’ve gotten 3 different daily quests from him, so I’m unsure what you’re saying – all of the quest text was pretty clear to me.