I was in luck. I got home about an hour after the Battle for Azeroth went live in my time zone and was able to log straight in and get started. No queue, not hangups, nothing wrong. And the game wasted no time either. New things were immediately presented.
I’ll tell you what’s new!
It was pretty much straight off to Silithus to finish up what we started back at the beginning of the pre-expansion events with Mangi Bronzebeard and the great big sword in the middle of the zone.
Mangi exposition while I look on
We did a few things, said good-bye to Illidan Stormrage, and went through the azurite intro which included me being handed a genuine reproduction of the Heart of Azeroth, a neck piece that lets you do the azurite thing.
In hindsight this is pretty much The Girl, The Gold Watch, and Everything
A bit of instruction, my first bit of azurite capable gear, a flash back through how that sword got stuck in Silithus, and things were wrapped up.
Somebody should do something about that sword though…
Then it was back to Stormwind for a quick meeting with King Anduin Wrynn and… well… anybody else who happened to wander into the room for that part of the question.
The classic moment is when he says, “Good, you’re here” in the crowd
Andiun and his advisors are concerned with word that Sylvanas is off to seek allies in Zandalar. If the Horde manages that it will lead to a naval ally gap. The Alliance needs their own allies in that regard, so I was sent off to meet Jaina at the dock. She has a spiffy new boat.
Stormwind harbor is never neglected
Somehow I managed to fall off the boat almost immediately.
We’re going to get wet again…
Apparently there is a no flying mount zone around the boat, so my mount disappeared right above the gap between the dock and the boat. Fortunately there was a ramp pretty close to hand and I was able to get out of the water and on to the boat with Jaina, at which point we sailed to Kul Tiras.
On arrival I immediately began to regret that I hadn’t paid more attention to the lore around Jaina and the Proudmoore family. She was not welcomed with open arms.
I feel like you could have mentioned some of this on the boat…
Her mother runs Kul Tiras and blames her for the defeat at Theramore and the death of her father, so things were more than a bit awkward.
Not her happy face
Jaina was hauled off and I was thrown in jail. But, as we know from all RPGs through all time, the hero breaking out of jail is super easy, barely an inconvenience, so I was out and free in short order and headed off to Boralus Harbor with a bit of exposition along the way.
In case you were wondering…
From there it was a tour about town, a couple of tasks to get me acquainted, and then off to the familiar from Legion decision as to which zone to go after first.
Only three zones? You have a couple hidden here for later, right?
I went with Tiragarde Sound which, in its description, held the promise of getting in better airs with Jaina’s mother Katherine, which seemed important given recent events. While there is no jail in Azeroth that can hold me it seems, I’d still like to move pas all that. So off I went to get stuck into my first zone of the expansion.
At this point I want to stop for a moment and praise the new areas. While I have adopted a flippant tone, I do have to say that walking about Boralus Harbor really impressed me. It is a beautiful, detailed zone that feels like part of Azeroth yet not a place I have been before. It certainly isn’t another trip back to Dalaran.
Looking out on the town
It has a very organic, seaside town feel to it. Also, the main color scheme is in greens, so I clearly chose the right transmog to wear. I just tell everybody the shovel is an oar and I am set.
Flying over Boralus Harbor on the local griffon substitute
So first impressions are pretty positive. I had to stop playing to take care of some things around the house… and then to write this… but I really want to get back and carry on.
I am kind of amused that several sites out there have guides up about getting to level 120 as fast as possible. While I am often a destination guy, there is some journey here to enjoy. I don’t have to race with this guy.
Four and a half hours and he’s through. Now what? Do you start working on alts then or just badger your guild mates to hurry and catch up?
No comments:
Post a Comment