Mixed Feeling On “New” Old Zones: The Downside

I’ve been questing through the re-made low level zones of late, considering I had Loremaster a short while after Wrath was released you may wonder what incentive there is to go back and do this, for me its the storyline. Which was always a big part of Warcraft for me, even back in teh days of Warcraft 2 and 3.

I have though felt incomplete as I have quested my way through the newly remade zones in a way I never did previously. When I originally levelled through these zones or came back to quest in them later I always felt a sort of .. completeness as I finished a zone.

The quests had usually sent you all around the zone and in most cases apart from some glaring exceptions the zones had felt finished. Now though when I finish a zone I feel as though I have missed something or havent done something .. despite having cleared everything I could come across.

Part of this could be due to the fact that I am looking at only Horde Quests .. I mean the Alliance could fill in the blanks for the rest of the zone, but that is just a void either way that I never previously experienced. Part of it could be that the zones are not truly finished and are waiting to be reworked in another major overhaul in a year or two. Or part of it could just be that after the flow of the storylines in these zones I just expect more.

Let me throw you some examples.

When you are questing in the Northern Barrens there is a giant mountain still claimed by the Burning Blade (you may recall quests here from classic) but in the current version of the game the only quests I found at all in relation to the Burning Blade in the barrens was keeping them off a supply train.. I mean there is no explanation of what they are still doing there, why they seem to have such vast numbers so suddenly or what they are now up to.

From Stonetalon to the South Barrens one of your biggest storylines is the aggressivess of the Forces of Theramore as they have stormed out of Northwatch and from Dustwallow. While you do really hit back at the Alliance in the South Barrens as a Horde player you feel left adrift when your quests do not take you to attack Northwatch, or when you move from the South Barrens into Dustwallow and you are not trying to destroy the new formed highway, preventing the alliance from moving troops to the barrens or attacking Theramore.  No instead of doing what you feel would be logical follow ups to the zones you are investigatng the burned out inn (again) and doing pretty much teh same quests you were doing in classic with 1 or 2 new ones thrown in.

Then in a Thousand Needles you are sent off on this fantastic quest chain that actually is one of the best I have come across as yet outside the Burning Steppes (if you haven’t done those yet do it .. fantastic story-chain) but then right at the end you are thrown a curveball. You free Magatha Grimtotem, help her, and then meekly inform the sailbarge and thats it. No dire portents, no “oh crap you better inform Baine” or whatever .. no it just ends. Which in retrospect is similar to how the Grimtotem lines always seem to.

So I suppose you can see why I feel like my thirst hasn’t been quenched by questing, but, yep there is a but, I also feel that the quests I am given are not making me explore the zones in any way the old ones used to.

In Ashenvale I had no reason to go anywere near most of the Furbolg settlements nor do I recall spending much time fighting the Satyrs which were quests I always loathed during classic but found myself oddly missing. In Stonetalon the old Horde hub is bypassed entirely, and the Charred Vale which is now covered in Black Dragons and Magma .. is not even looked at. In the South Barrens we ignore Northwatch and do very little questing at all down amongst the Quillboars which is an area now totally overgrown .. nearly all our focus in this zone is on the Overgrowth and the Battlescar. In a different area .. Swamp of Sorrows, the entire back and forth between the Alliance & Horde around Stonard and Sunken Temple is fantastic, but the entire western part of the zone is pretty much dead barring a single rather mournful questchain which still doesn’t have you fully explore the area.

Now I am not griping .. well maybe I am, I mean I have had a lot of fun in these areas, and have really been enjoying them, looking over the new storylines and getting a feel for everything in Cataclysm that as a “veteran” returning from Northrend and being shipped off straight to Hyjal or Vashjir you wouldn’t have seen or understood much of.

Helping Eitrigg and his son in the Burning Steppes prevent an invasion of Blackrock Orcs into Redridge was just awesome, as was the anger blizzard actually stirred in me against the Alliance with the quests in the Southern Barrens.

Yet while some areas feel completed through and through .. like the Burning Steppes or the Blasted Lands. Others do truly leave me feeling like I have sat down for a three course meal only to be told that I can only have the entree before they have to close the kitchen.

I hope that levelling an Alliance Toon will complete these zones for me, but I still feel a little miffed that zones which once felt complete now leave me feeling unsatisfied with the eventual outcome.

Alliance Aggression: Kalimdor

Note: This weeks “Shared Topic” was from Ringo Flinthammer, and I assure you after starting to redo all the old zones I am seeing far more Alliance then Horde Aggression so I could in no ways follow his suggestions on what can be done to stop the Horde War Machine. In fact I believe the Horde War Machine has been to complacent and our ire has not fully been extracted as it should so righteously have been on the villanous Alliance.

You have all heard of my views on the blatant Alliance Aggression since Cataclysm has launched, and I have so far covered the Eastern Kingdoms .. but now my eye has turned to Kalimdor and more then ever my indignation as a member of the Horde grows. We are being accused of being a lumbering War Machine bent on the conquest of Azeroth when things could not be further from the truth, in fact even in distant Kalimdor the Alliance hounds us in our very homes.

Being a very faithful Tauren I can tell you that finding Cairne dead when I returned back from Northrend did not leave me a happy chappy, indeed we were almost ready to turn on the Horde itself. Since then the actions of the Horde and the Alliance in kalimdor have been fairly messy but overall the Horde is still by far the underdog fighting for survival.

The Alliance continues to cry foul over our push into Ashenvale yet blatently disregards Tauren Holy sites by excavating in Stonetalon, Mulgore and the Barrens (all of which I should comment have so righteously been put down). Is it a wonder that with our resources strained to an all time high and with incursions by the Alliance that we not only dare but do act out to secure our own future?

While we can’t agree with the indiscrimitae bombing that occurred in Stonetalon you are digging up our holy land and sending more Northwatch troops into what has traditionally been Tauren territory. Not only that but you raise our ire by attacking the Crossroads, burning down a major Tauren Town, slaughtering its children and imhabitants, continually picking of survivors and then building forts and keeps across the main Horde territory of the Barrens. How would you feel if the Horde started erecting towers in Westfall or Redridge? I can assure you that as a peaceful loving druid my only regret after doing all I could in the Barrens, Stonetalon, Dustwallow and a Thousand Needles was that I was unable to raise and army to raze Theramore, Northwatch and their outposts to the ground.

Now more then ever is my ire raised towards the atrocities that the Alliance commits, and they dare scream at us for being an evil “war machine”. Us evil War machine drivers took in a battered and un-homed race, who unlike the Gilneans were not disease ridden mongrels, and we gave them a new home and a place to expand (rather then just a tree in our capital city might I add) and what happens .. the Alliance attacks them!

For thousands of years the alliance forsook Azshara as curse, perpetual Autumn and the last traces of the Night Elf Queens evil. So , being uninhabited we helped our small green friends to build up their presence there only to be wantonly attacked by Alliance marauders who decided we didn’t belong there! If it wasn’t enough that they were invading the heartland of the Horde they now have to attack a battered population of refugees?

Talking of their stances against minorities it gets worse the further North you look. Unless it is an area controlled by the Cenarion Circle the Alliance uses every ounce of its power to put an end to activities that would ensure the Hordes very survival. A minimal timber felling operation in Ashenvale turned into all out war because the Night Elves were unwilling to surrender lumber.. yet they appear more then willing to let the Alliance go chopping down trees in Stonetalon or digging up holy sites in the Barrens!

In Darkshore the peacable Shatterspear Trolls know most for being happy dancers have been crushed and subjugated by the Alliance for simply opening dialogue with the Horde, in Desolace ally assasins patrol the passes cutting of varied Tauren Tribes from sending aid and support to Ferales to help the Freewind Refugees.

As you can see from this repart as well as my previous across two continents the Alliance are agitating civil unrest and rioting, provoking attacks, inciting war and branding us, the Horde, as ruthless killers leading a rioting war machine.

Our champions and heros are out there doing what they can to stem the tides of war. Eitrigg helped stopped a Demon invasion of Redridge backed by the Blackrock Orcs in effect helping the Alliance, while in Kalimdor the Alliance openly Ally with the Hordes enemies.

No friends the more I read, the more I hear, the more incensed I become. Always have I been willing to be lenient towards the Alliance but since Deathwing reemerged and ravaged the lands I find their attitude intolerable and unexcusable and only wait for the Tauren High Cheiftain to isse the orders for me to march across the plains and crush Theramore or to cross the Thandol Span and deliver righteous justice on the forces of Ironforge.

The time for peace is over, the Alliance have shown the full extent of their hatred and trechery and now, now is the time to say no more, the time to make a stand and to truly show them what the fury of the Horde really is. Lok’tar Ogar!

10 WoW Items You Would Like Altered

Ok folks I am not talking here primarily about gear, I am here talking about other items you pick up as you quest, level and grind your way through Azeroth. What items do you think could be changed for greater benefit for everyone that won’t overtly effect gameplay. I am sure you have some, I know I do. To get things rolling here is my list of things I would like to see changed:

1. Guild Herald / Guild Page: I would love to see these guys running around more, not just mine but any guilds, clogging up Orgrimmar or flooding zones with a disturbing mass of extra bodies that don’t do anything except serve to distract. How would I do this? Make the vendor ability like the Argent Squire/Gruntling, give that a cooldown but let us use the Herald/Page whenever.
2. Amulet of Draconic Subversion: OK this may no longer be obtainable .. but neither are the Amani Warbear or the Black Proto-Drake. If they can show of theirs I want to as well! Just let us use this anywhere, its all I ask .. I don’t want to have to fly to a cave in Dustwallow to use it and say to myself “ahh that’s what it does!”
3. Abyssal Seahorse: Yes it is a nice free mount, but I never see it. As a druid I used aquatic form more in Vashj but occasionally you get stuck in water and have to travel some distance. Would be a bonus if this were simply made usable in “Aquatic Environments” rather then just Vashjir
4. River Boat: Turn this into a mount and let us use in in any Aquatic Environment just like I want the seahorse to be. We don’t see enough of these choking Azeroths waterways and restricting them to a Thousand Needles is needlessly cruel. Plus turning it into a mount will save some bagspace. Would also be cool if you could fish from it and carry passangers but that would be pushing my luck!
5. Qiraj Battle Tanks: Some people will hate me for this but the legendary one is no longer the only one usable outside AQ40, the Archeology one is as well. I say recolour the Archeology one and let us use the rest of them outside AQ as well. (A long shot I know but I like the red bug .. I want to see more of it)
6. Delicate Music Box: I would love to see this item upgraded to a 1 use white item that randomly plays a WoW Soundtrack from any zone. That is all
7. Defender of the Timbermaw & Barov Peasent Caller: I would love to see these two scale with level like the Argent War Horn and Commanders Badge do. I don’t use any regularly but sometimes its fun to use them and if they don’t keel over from a mob just looking at them even better!
8. Underbelly Elixer: Since most people avoid Dalaran these days I would love to see these usable anywhere. Or maybe even just in any city.
9. Cloak that will teleport you to Orgrimmar or Stormwind: This one is more a matter for their art department then anything ground breaking, but the cloak is supposed to show your guilds crest. As a Tauren Druid the crest is all under my hair and the rest of the cloak is black … it looks ugly. Maybe they can take a look and fix it so that it shows appropriately on each race.
10. Winterfin Horn Of Distress: I would love to see this turned into a permanent item rather then a 1 use item. So long as it is like the Argent War Horn and levels with you unlike the Defender of the Timbermaw.

So those are my 10 preferences, what are yours?