World of Warcraft: Midnight

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

OK, first negative thing to say about Midnight: I completely tuned out during Harandar. Could not be less interested in all of their stuff and I find the zone design a pain in the ass. I spent as much time trying to figure out where an NPC was in a cave as I did questing.

I know some people love these folks, but I am not one of them. First new race where I don't find their story at all interesting.

Now, onto Voidstorm and my last 1.05 levels to level 90.

 

[TwoSix]

OK, first negative thing to say about Midnight: I completely tuned out during Harandar. Could not be less interested in all of their stuff and I find the zone design a pain in the ass. I spent as much time trying to figure out where an NPC was in a cave as I did questing.

I know some people love these folks, but I am not one of them. First new race where I don't find their story at all interesting.

Now, onto Voidstorm and my last 1.05 levels to level 90.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess. Harandar was the first zone I got Sojourner on. And I thought some of the NPCs (like the root tender mourning Teldrassil) were really affecting.

And I think the Haranir model is absolutely fantastic; I’m planning on doing Haranir Druid for Season 2.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Different strokes for different folks, I guess. Harandar was the first zone I got Sojourner on. And I thought some of the NPCs (like the root tender mourning Teldrassil) were really affecting.

And I think the Haranir model is absolutely fantastic; I’m planning on doing Haranir Druid for Season 2.

Yeah, I suspect I'm a minority voice on the Harandir, given the chatter online.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Reached the Voidstorm last night, which has the plot I think we assumed the rest of the zones would have front and center.

Amusingly, all the NPCs freak out in the zone -- "Look at the devastation! It's breaking my mind!" -- as though K'aresh (where we just were before this expansion) and even Netherstorm in Burning Crusade weren't more extreme versions of this same style of zone. Apparently, some of the major NPCs also feel the VOOOOOOOID pressing in on their minds.

We start to get Xalatath's goals, which are more mundane than I'd hoped (although everyone in Voidstorm is an unreliable source, so who really knows). More fun is that the Void, as opposed to the Burning Legion and especially the Light, is not a unified force with everyone on the same side. There are apparent traitors and even the "loyalists" on the Void side are sniping at each other and threatening one another, which is a nice change-up.

Reached 90 last night and my wife and I will finish off the campaign quest today, opening up the world quests and letting us tackle the weekly events for the first time.

 

[TwoSix]

Reached the Voidstorm last night, which has the plot I think we assumed the rest of the zones would have front and center.

Amusingly, all the NPCs freak out in the zone -- "Look at the devastation! It's breaking my mind!" -- as though K'aresh (where we just were before this expansion) and even Netherstorm in Burning Crusade weren't more extreme versions of this same style of zone. Apparently, some of the major NPCs also feel the VOOOOOOOID pressing in on their minds.

We start to get Xalateth's goals, which are more mundane than I'd hoped (although everyone in Voidstorm is an unreliable source, so who really knows). More fun is that the Void, as opposed to the Burning Legion and especially the Light, is not a unified force with everyone on the same side. There are apparent traitors and even the "loyalists" on the Void side are sniping at each other and threatening one another, which is a nice change-up.

Reached 90 last night and my wife and I will finish off the campaign quest today, opening up the world quests and letting us tackle the weekly events for the first time.

Voidstorm is definitely one of the best iterations of the "stuck in Hell" blasted zone that Blizzard usually does once an expansion. There are lot of interesting quests that give some texture to the idea of the "Void".

They definitely seem to be going for a Moorcockian "Too much of any one of the big forces is bad, and balance is essential".

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

They definitely seem to be going for a Moorcockian "Too much of any one of the big forces is bad, and balance is essential".

Yeah, they've hinted at that before -- anyone who's done the Mag'har heritage armor quest wasn't shocked by how this expansion started -- but they're definitely making that issue explicit now.

 

[TwoSix]

A minor thing that bugs me is that the unlockable Amani customizations are just skin and hair colors for regular trolls.

The new stockier Amani model is fantastic, and I want it for my troll monk!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

A minor thing that bugs me is that the unlockable Amani customizations are just skin and hair colors for regular trolls.

The new stockier Amani model is fantastic, and I want it for my troll monk!

Yeah, that was frustrating. Give my troll a gym membership, Blizzard!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

My wife and I did the Prey system this weekend. It's a mixed bag.

It does not feel like hunting, since it's very clear you're maxing out an invisible bar (depicted as a crystal that gets redder and redder) through several stages before, effectively, an extra world quest appears on your map to let you go fight the guy and finish the hunt.

And your enemy shows up multiple times during that process, ambushing you before being driven off, typically while you're in the middle of fighting something else.

The rewards are a mixed bag -- I can't see ever wanting to use the decor you get for doing this -- but the mounts are good, the cosmetics aren't bad, and you get a loot chest with good gear for the first few prey missions you do each week (do the hard ones first, for best loot). This will also apparently add to your gear slots in the weekly vault, which is also nice.

However, this is also something you just turn on as an extra layer atop of doing your weekly quests and world quests, rather than being a standalone activity (in fact, you can't complete your prey bar without doing extra activities). So considered in that light, it makes all of those other events more interesting, because you have an NPC villain periodically pop out and attack you while you're performing other tasks. And that's fun.

That said, the aesthetic around all of this is weird, with the quest giver being a giant creep who seems like he might be getting off sexually on all of this. And even if not, he's definitely a villain himself whom we're going to want to stab by the end of the expansion.

I suspect we'll get an evolution of this without the weirdness (seriously, Alastor is extremely strange and unpleasant) in future expansions as a bonus hard mode feature.

 

[TwoSix]

That said, the aesthetic around all of this is weird, with the quest giver being a giant creep who seems like he might be getting off sexually on all of this. And even if not, he's definitely a villain himself whom we're going to want to stab by the end of the expansion.

I suspect we'll get an evolution of this without the weirdness (seriously, Alastor is extremely strange and unpleasant) in future expansions as a bonus hard mode feature.

I read a theory on Reddit that with his weird focus on anguish magic, Astalor might actually be Sire Denathrius in disguise. No idea if it's right, but I like the theory!