World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

[Ghost Rider]

And there, finished the heroic raids. Now to do achievements or I go back to milling about playing the game. Really, I am finding lovable about a few old timers crying how they remembered Naxx when it was real(because I so loved Patchwerk, even if his dialogue was the best in the game...his hateful rotation still gave me ugly chills).

As for my server herbs are insane, so I just leveled my Paladin and DK to have herbalism, farm and laugh. And I almost...ALMOST got Titansteel down to a reasonable level(300-350G) rather then having it sell for 1K per bar.

[Civil War Man]

I would like to say that Azjol-Nerub is probably the shortest instance I have ever seen. Couple trash, boss fight, boss fight, jump to the bottom, boss fight.

My group wiped a couple times on the second boss and once on Anub'Arak. Though we had a really sketchy group makeup. Protection Warrior, Blood Death Knight (me), Frost Death Knight, Feral Druid, Frost Mage. Our healing consisted of the Feral Druid, with me Rune Tapping every 30 seconds (I have the glyph, so it's group healing). Basically every fight was a mad AoE DPS race, since we didn't really have enough healing for a protracted fight. Worked out a lot better when I swapped out with our Resto shaman so she could run it and I could go level in Icecrown (I'm almost 78 now, with currently no professions. I plan on grinding up skinning and herbalism when I hit 80, mostly for the buffs and low operational costs).

We almost got Anub'Arak the first time, in spite of it being a near comedy of errors. The fun began when the mage didn't run into the circle in time, and got locked out of the fight. Then the Feral druid, who as mentioned before was our designated healer, got killed by adds. Then the warrior and the frost Death Knight go down, as Anub'Arak surfaces the final time (about 20% health), with me at really low health. If it weren't for the swarms of little things stunning me, I might have been able to do it, since I was able to use Vampiric Blood, Rune Tap, Medallion of Heroism, and also a potion IIRC to bring me up to full, at which point I would have been using Death Strike (with the extra 2% healing per 5 runic power glyph) to try to keep my health up.

Protip: The healer will thank you if you center Death and Decay on them in a fight with a lot of fragile adds.

[Sriad]

And there, finished the heroic raids. Now to do achievements or I go back to milling about playing the game. Really, I am finding lovable about a few old timers crying how they remembered Naxx when it was real(because I so loved Patchwerk, even if his dialogue was the best in the game...his hateful rotation still gave me ugly chills).

As for my server herbs are insane, so I just leveled my Paladin and DK to have herbalism, farm and laugh. And I almost...ALMOST got Titansteel down to a reasonable level(300-350G) rather then having it sell for 1K per bar.

How did you guys find 10-man vs 25-man Malygos? My guild has almost cleared 10-man at this point (only got 25 80s last weekend) ie regularly getting him to phase 3 with minutes before enrage so all we need is to practice Drakemanship on the Aces High quest. I'm not stressing about either kill, we're a competent bunch and'll have current content on farm before Christmas; just curious.

And I have to say, I'm loving heroic achievements. Being "rewarded" for beating boss encounters in ways that were obviously unintended is a hoot.

Civil War Man: funny bit of serendipity, I'm a mage and got locked out of Anub'arak the first time I did it. My contribution to the fight was soloing one of the adds every time he submerged...

[Gil Hamilton]

Holy crap, the Wraithgate and associated following quests for the Horde are the most fun I've had in WoW in quite a long time.

[Karza]

Holy crap, the Wraithgate and associated following quests for the Horde are the most fun I've had in WoW in quite a long time.

Just did this on Ally side. Okay, it's fun, but something about it seriously annoyed me. Dunno if the Horde version of the cutscene is the same, but on ally side: Spoiler

There's a huge battle with Horde and Alliance fighting the Lich King, and the Forsaken actually fire some sort of plague bombs right to the middle of it, killing people from every side equally. Why is it that the Horde hasn't expelled these shitheads already? It was bleeding obvious even before Wrathgate that the Forsaken are more trouble than they're worth, but actually halfway wiping out an allied army? That really should make Thrall break from his crack-addled reverie and proclaim open season on the walking corpses.

Oh, and apparently the Lich King, lord and master of the Scourge in particular and death and decay in general, is... vulnerable to Forsaken plagues. Riiiight.

[Civil War Man]

Holy crap, the Wraithgate and associated following quests for the Horde are the most fun I've had in WoW in quite a long time.

Just did this on Ally side. Okay, it's fun, but something about it seriously annoyed me. Dunno if the Horde version of the cutscene is the same, but on ally side: Spoiler

There's a huge battle with Horde and Alliance fighting the Lich King, and the Forsaken actually fire some sort of plague bombs right to the middle of it, killing people from every side equally. Why is it that the Horde hasn't expelled these shitheads already? It was bleeding obvious even before Wrathgate that the Forsaken are more trouble than they're worth, but actually halfway wiping out an allied army? That really should make Thrall break from his crack-addled reverie and proclaim open season on the walking corpses.

Oh, and apparently the Lich King, lord and master of the Scourge in particular and death and decay in general, is... vulnerable to Forsaken plagues. Riiiight.

Unless you have done the subsequent quests following the Wrath Gate, you may not want to read this. Spoiler

1. The reason Thrall doesn't declare open season on the Forsaken is because Sylvanas is still loyal to the Horde. Varimathras, Putress, and the rest staged a coup that results in Horde and Alliance forces invading the Undercity in an attempt to kill the ringleaders of the coup and try to take back Lordaeron for their respective faction. In fact, that is rather clearly pointed out for all players, as Alliance get sent on a diplomatic mission to Ogrimmar and find that out, and Horde can obviously learn it pretty easily. So, instead of overreacting and committing what might technically be considered genocide, considering that the Forsaken are pretty much a different breed of undead, Thrall decides to only punish the people responsible for the atrocity. Crazy, huh?

2. This isn't exactly covered for Alliance players, but the reason the plague affected Arthas is because the plague that Putress developed and unleashed was specifically designed to kill the undead just as effectively as it kills the living.

On a different note, last night I completed a quest chain in Icecrown that was helping a soldier for the Argent Crusade who had done Medal of Honor-worthy acts but was infected with the undeath plague. I must say that everyone involved in the chain only had nice things to say about me, but the finale has a rather bitter flavor when playing as a Death Knight.

Again, don't read unless you've either done the quest, or don't care about spoilers. Spoiler

I travel to different corners of the world to help this guy. I try to cure the plague with druid magic granted by Remulos. I try to burn out the plague with dragon magic granted by Alexstraza. In the end, I summon fucking A'dal in order to save this guy, and the guy basically ascends with the help of Naaru magic. And as the Crusader ascends A'dal says, "Fear not, young one, for this crusader shall not taste death. In life, Bridenbrad was the bearer of great deeds. Now, in passing, he shall taste the only paradise. The light does not abandon its champions." Yep, the Light does not abandon its champions, except for those thousands of Death Knights who were champions of the Light before being brutally murdered and twisted by the Lich King, and those thousands more who were champions of the Light before being murdered and raised as ghouls or dismembered and sewn into abominations. As I said, it can be a fairly bitter moment for Death Knight characters in particular, since their backstory is basically champions who were abandoned by the Light.

[Oskuro]

So, I finally got the expansion (as an early birthday gift) and created my first DK... and managed to break the game. Instead of walking into Orgrimmar like a good little sheep I took the first Zeppelin to Undercity, and found out that the effect preventing you from casting or attacking does not work there, and, furthermore, NPCs will talk to you normally.

Back in Durotar with my mount out, I went exploring for a bit, and found out how far reaching the devastation caused by the Scourge was (take a close look at the logs):



So, I really enjoyed the DK introduction, even when my explorer nature managed to find a few flaws in the design (try riding away into the plaguelands, or going into Light's Hope early on). But the overall feel I got was that, replacing Acherus with the 3d model of a Battlecruiser, you got a Starcraft MMO right there.

Oh, and I so hate when DKs upgrade their starting armor and start wearing mismatching greens. It so kills the DK feel.

[Darmalus]

I intend to save all my DK starting gear in the (vain) hopes of Blizzard one day adding an appearance tab.

[Civil War Man]

snip

Yeah, I heard about that bug. It's pretty funny.

As for my Death Knight (who I decided to make my main to escape Paladin drama, and haven't looked back once), I did not swap any of my armor as I blitzed through Outland. I changed weapons a couple times, replaced the ring once, I think. Managed to get through with little problem, since the Death Knight armor was designed to be Outland-level gear. Kept the entire ensemble until I hit Northrend, since their quest greens are designed to appear less clownish and more like they are part of the same set.

[Gil Hamilton]

Just did this on Ally side. Okay, it's fun, but something about it seriously annoyed me. Dunno if the Horde version of the cutscene is the same, but on ally side: Spoiler

There's a huge battle with Horde and Alliance fighting the Lich King, and the Forsaken actually fire some sort of plague bombs right to the middle of it, killing people from every side equally. Why is it that the Horde hasn't expelled these shitheads already? It was bleeding obvious even before Wrathgate that the Forsaken are more trouble than they're worth, but actually halfway wiping out an allied army? That really should make Thrall break from his crack-addled reverie and proclaim open season on the walking corpses.

Oh, and apparently the Lich King, lord and master of the Scourge in particular and death and decay in general, is... vulnerable to Forsaken plagues. Riiiight.

Spoiler

As was pointed out, the undead were making something called the Blight, which was specifically designed as an anti-Scourge weapon. You do quests at the Forsaken town to help develop and test it. However, the Apothecarium faction in the Undercity, lead by Varimithras, joins the Burning Legion (as that's actually where Varimithras' loyalties lie).

After the rebel Forsaken try to kill everyone at the Wraithgate and then have a coup in the Undercity, Thrall decides to kick their asses and personally leads the charge to take back the Undercity for the Horde in possibly one of the most fun events in WoW, period, since as a survivor of the Wraithgate, you are selected to accompany him and bust some heads. At the end, Varian Wrynn shows up, has the balls to lecture Thrall (of all people) on what its like to be forced into gladiatorial combat, and just as Thrall and Sylvanas are about to tear him a new one, Jaina shows up and stops the fighting to try an preserve the peace. Which is a shame, cause I wanted Thrall to smack Wrynn around.

[Oskuro]

Yeah, I heard about that bug. It's pretty funny.

As for my Death Knight (who I decided to make my main to escape Paladin drama, and haven't looked back once), I did not swap any of my armor as I blitzed through Outland. I changed weapons a couple times, replaced the ring once, I think. Managed to get through with little problem, since the Death Knight armor was designed to be Outland-level gear. Kept the entire ensemble until I hit Northrend, since their quest greens are designed to appear less clownish and more like they are part of the same set.

Well, seems like the bug wasn't fixed in Beta after all. The GM I reported it to went on to console the poor crabs and teach them manners (his words).

And I'm glad to hear you can keep the starting set through Outland, as I was planning on doing so anyway... That is, of course, until the inevitable mass nerf on the DKs a lot of people seem to be whinning about (yes, incredible as it might seem, players seem to realize the DK is too powerful right now!).

On the other hand, I might just lvel up to 70 without hitting Outland (again), just for the hell of it.

[Karza]

Unless you have done the subsequent quests following the Wrath Gate, you may not want to read this. Spoiler

1. The reason Thrall doesn't declare open season on the Forsaken is because Sylvanas is still loyal to the Horde. Varimathras, Putress, and the rest staged a coup that results in Horde and Alliance forces invading the Undercity in an attempt to kill the ringleaders of the coup and try to take back Lordaeron for their respective faction. In fact, that is rather clearly pointed out for all players, as Alliance get sent on a diplomatic mission to Ogrimmar and find that out, and Horde can obviously learn it pretty easily. So, instead of overreacting and committing what might technically be considered genocide, considering that the Forsaken are pretty much a different breed of undead, Thrall decides to only punish the people responsible for the atrocity. Crazy, huh?

2. This isn't exactly covered for Alliance players, but the reason the plague affected Arthas is because the plague that Putress developed and unleashed was specifically designed to kill the undead just as effectively as it kills the living.

I hadn't done any Wrathgate follow-ups yet, but read that anyway. Okay okay, Thrall is a better person than I am .

[Ghost Rider]

And there, finished the heroic raids. Now to do achievements or I go back to milling about playing the game. Really, I am finding lovable about a few old timers crying how they remembered Naxx when it was real(because I so loved Patchwerk, even if his dialogue was the best in the game...his hateful rotation still gave me ugly chills).

As for my server herbs are insane, so I just leveled my Paladin and DK to have herbalism, farm and laugh. And I almost...ALMOST got Titansteel down to a reasonable level(300-350G) rather then having it sell for 1K per bar.

How did you guys find 10-man vs 25-man Malygos? My guild has almost cleared 10-man at this point (only got 25 80s last weekend) ie regularly getting him to phase 3 with minutes before enrage so all we need is to practice Drakemanship on the Aces High quest. I'm not stressing about either kill, we're a competent bunch and'll have current content on farm before Christmas; just curious.

10 man wasn't bad...but the learning curve is weirder then the 25. Seriously the DPS requirements are oddly stricter.

And I have to say, I'm loving heroic achievements. Being "rewarded" for beating boss encounters in ways that were obviously unintended is a hoot.

They are. Currently our biggest goal is the Immortal title. And gods, I do not pity our raid leader on that.

If wondering chitlins it is make sure no one dies at all in all of Naxx boss fights. It and the five minutes to kill Malgyos are the big two wants for the guild.

[D.Turtle]

Yeah, thats the true challenge for the hard core raiders:

Getting the "Glory of the Raider" Achievement(s). I know I won't get it for a long time, if at all.

And I have to say, I love the extent to which they use the phasing technology for quests - especially in Icecrown.

[Ghost Rider]

Yeah, thats the true challenge for the hard core raiders:

Getting the "Glory of the Raider" Achievement(s). I know I won't get it for a long time, if at all.

And I have to say, I love the extent to which they use the phasing technology for quests - especially in Icecrown.

Phasing with both Icecrown and the DK quests have been awesome.

Also for me Glory of the Raider is to satisfy the hardcore. Blizz has said we will never see another Sunwell level raid, and I believe Arthas may be easier then even Prince pre-nerf. They are aiming for content by all, but achievements/titles by those who want that extra challenge of min-maxing.

[Civil War Man]

I was personally surprised (in a good way) how much phasing was done in Icecrown. It was great. It felt like there was actual accomplishments being made that changed the game world. As I said to one guild mate, "It's great. I'm pretty much personally responsible for every single setback that Arthas has suffered in Icecrown, from the petty annoyances all the way up to the major strategic defeats."

And then I got a quest line that starts with setting off a giant bomb in the basement of the Citadel, which is the part of the quest line that would piss off Arthas the least.

The guild mate responded that if Arthas were smart, he would start sicing raid bosses on me. Between the siege engines, other players, and ringer NPCs, the elites he would sometimes send obviously weren't enough.

[dragon]

Just renewed suscription and installed Lich King. Made a DK and boy are they a bit different fun though. Even though the big battle between 10000 undead and 300 living was a bit lame. Now I just gotta remember all the stuff to do in the outlands.

[Koolaidkirby]

Spoiler

As was pointed out, the undead were making something called the Blight, which was specifically designed as an anti-Scourge weapon. You do quests at the Forsaken town to help develop and test it. However, the Apothecarium faction in the Undercity, lead by Varimithras, joins the Burning Legion (as that's actually where Varimithras' loyalties lie).

After the rebel Forsaken try to kill everyone at the Wraithgate and then have a coup in the Undercity, Thrall decides to kick their asses and personally leads the charge to take back the Undercity for the Horde in possibly one of the most fun events in WoW, period, since as a survivor of the Wraithgate, you are selected to accompany him and bust some heads. At the end, Varian Wrynn shows up, has the balls to lecture Thrall (of all people) on what its like to be forced into gladiatorial combat, and just as Thrall and Sylvanas are about to tear him a new one, Jaina shows up and stops the fighting to try an preserve the peace. Which is a shame, cause I wanted Thrall to smack Wrynn around.

Spoiler

That's totally not how it happened,

After the genocide loving horde try to make up some excuses for what happened at the Wrathgate, killing fucking BOLVAR, and acting all shocked that a few people on the evil faction devoted to wiping out all life, were actually, (go figure) evil. Varian had enough and decides to lay the smackdown on the Undercity and retake the old capital in the best event ever made, as you get to accompany him and Jaina through the Undercity purging the forsaken and their creations. After killing the guy directly responsible for the event, King Wrynn hears Thrall and Sylvanas are there, and runs to the throne room and gives Thrall a piece of his mind for letting this shit slide, and just to do some serious curbstomping, Jaina pussies out and teleports him and all the people about to delve some righteous judgment back to Stormwind. Which was a shame, because I wanted Wrynn to smack Thrall around.

[Aeolus]

Holy crap, the Wraithgate and associated following quests for the Horde are the most fun I've had in WoW in quite a long time.

Just did this on Ally side. Okay, it's fun, but something about it seriously annoyed me. Dunno if the Horde version of the cutscene is the same, but on ally side: Spoiler

There's a huge battle with Horde and Alliance fighting the Lich King, and the Forsaken actually fire some sort of plague bombs right to the middle of it, killing people from every side equally. Why is it that the Horde hasn't expelled these shitheads already? It was bleeding obvious even before Wrathgate that the Forsaken are more trouble than they're worth, but actually halfway wiping out an allied army? That really should make Thrall break from his crack-addled reverie and proclaim open season on the walking corpses.

Oh, and apparently the Lich King, lord and master of the Scourge in particular and death and decay in general, is... vulnerable to Forsaken plagues. Riiiight.

Have you ever played through any horde quests? Spoiler

The Forsaken plague was designed to wipe out the scourge...and well everything else. Oh and yes the Forsaken ...betrayal is delt with

[Ghost Rider]

Just renewed suscription and installed Lich King. Made a DK and boy are they a bit different fun though. Even though the big battle between 10000 undead and 300 living was a bit lame. Now I just gotta remember all the stuff to do in the outlands.

My only beef with the DK is the level of skills. I get First Aid up at Artisan. But I have to go back to Goldshire for cooking and fishing as well as for any of the primary. Which means I spent time in Azeroth...because I'm a level 58(Not hard to get that high in level after all the quests and killing) newbie retard according to the game. I can accept primaries being start over but all the secondary should be artisan.

[Civil War Man]

Spoiler

At the end, Varian Wrynn shows up, has the balls to lecture Thrall (of all people) on what its like to be forced into gladiatorial combat

Spoiler

Yep. Because Thrall was himself a slave, that makes him completely immune to criticism about how he looks the other way while the government he now runs practices slavery.

[Crown]

It's official Warlock's are The Prince of Darkness! Those glasses better be available in-game that's all I can say.

[Ghost Rider]

It's official Warlock's are The Prince of Darkness! Those glasses better be available in-game that's all I can say.

That would be so fucking awesome.

[Crown]

Bah! Wrathgate (and the WotLK cinematic) are bugged for me on my Mac for some reason (no sound). Had to go and dig it out on the net after the fact to actually hear what happened.

And I must say;
Spoiler

As a Forsaken player, I'm not sure how Sylvanas is acting all surprised with this. Yeah, okay Varimathras betraying her would be a shock to her (but not to all the UD Warlocks), but for crying out loud, MY character has been involved in perfecting the blight since I was level 6, what, did she think it was going to be a stand off weapon?!

Also, the Role Player in me LOVED the part where the Forsaken Apothecary spoke to Arthras; "Did you think we'd forgotten? Did you think we've forgiven?" That's right bitch YOU TAKE OUR PLAGUE. YOU TAKE IT AND YOU LIKE IT!

*clears throat*

Sorry, what I guess you have to understand about the Forsaken is; they are the citizens that Arthras BETRAYED and MURDERED. They are cursed, and they fight and survive only to see HIM dead, and for anyone else who gets in the way ... *shrug*

Anyway 10/10 Blizz for making this game actually FUN again.

[D.Turtle]

Well, having finally gotten started with the raid content (3 wings Naxx clear for the 25-man, everything except Malygos for the 10-man raids so far this id) - I have to say that all the screaming about how its all to easy and simple way overblown (as expected). Yes it is easier than Sunwell (or parts of BT/MH), but if you've never raided before you will have quite some challenges.

In some ways the 10-man raids are actually harder than the 25-man raids, because you have a larger margin of error with the larger raids. And Malygos is quite challenging without the proper equipment. His Cyclone doing more than 20k damage over 10 seconds to every person in the raid while only allowing instants requires either some "raid stacking" by taking along at least 2 druids/priests, or relatively good equipment so that the heal requirement isn't quite that large (if you have people with only 15k health raid-buffed, you need quite a lot more healing to survive than if everyone has 20k raid-buffed). This leaves out the entirety of managing the spark thingies. And this is all in Phase 1. Haven't gotten a look at Phase 2 or 3 yet, so I can't say much about them (except praise Blizzard for implementing a daily allowing you to practice phase 3). A very challenging fight for people who aren't high-end raiders.

And that still leaves out 10-man Sartharion with 3 adds up, which is even harder.

I like it. Raiding is a lot more fun now than it was before.