Battle for Leveling

It's been a few weeks since the release of Battle for Azeroth, and I have finally completed leveling my Horde and Alliance character. As with most recent releases, I usually take my time and try to read each quest and understand the story to the best of my ability. This was a special expansion for me, because it was the first time I decided to level up my Alliance character first. This decision came around because my initial thought was that I would enjoy those zones much more than the Horde zones. I definitely wasn't wrong, though both sides had some really enjoyable things and the not so enjoyable things.

I'll talk about my Alliance experience first. I quested in the order of Drustvar, Stormsong Valley, and then Tiragarde Sound. Drustvar was amazing and made me even more excited to have a Kul Tiran druid. The entire zone is spooky from ghosts to witches to scary pig men! Everything about the area was perfect, and I don't think I can say enough good things about it. Stormsong was beautiful, and I loved the quest line that brought you through the Tidesages story. One of my favorite random quests is located on a little island off the coast in this zone. It follows the tales of the drunk pirates Hook, Line, and Sinker. I won't spoil anything for you in case you didn't do it, but you do get an achievement for completing it. The only area I really hated here was Briarback Kraul as I thought it was a pain to navigate through and figure out what level you had to be on to turn in a quest.

Tiragarde Sound was my least favorite Alliance zone. I loved the intro with Flynn Fairwind, but toward the end of the zone I found the quest really tedious as you're just helping all the different settlements around the area. The Norwington Estate is a really beautiful place to hang out though. It has a beautiful view of the zone, and some fun quests that allow you to ride horses to gain the appreciation of the people at the party.

Sadly I wish my Horde experience was a bit better. I decided to go in the order of Vol'dun, Nazmir, then end with Zuldazar. While I've never really been a fan of trolls, I found myself very disconnected from the Zandalari and just the Horde in general recently. My experience in Vol'dun was alright. I didn't really hate or really enjoy anything about it. Meerah along with Dolly and Dot made it a fun experience. I also enjoyed the sethrak definitely more than I thought I would. This place had another of my favorite random quests. It's located in the Whistlebloom Oasis and has you helping out Rhan'ka to open up the Goldtusk Inn.

Nazmir was a lot more fun and definitely my favorite Horde zone. I loved visiting each temple and seeing the different Loas and learning about them. They were each unique and interesting, and I'm curious to see exactly what Bwonsamdi may want in the future. I saved Zuldazar as my last area, because I watched my boyfriend quest through it a bit, and I already knew I wouldn't enjoy it. Surprise, I didn't, and it was my least favorite zone out of everything. The most interesting part was the quests that send you to  the Amani and Sandfury tribe areas in the city where you encounter some bosses from Zul'Farrak and Zul'Aman. Another redeeming part about the area was it introduced me to Jani, the Loa of trash. I want to talk about him and some of the other Loa later on, so I'll dedicate a post to doing just that.

Out of the two major cities, I find Boralus easier to navigate. With Dazar'alor having way too many stairs, I often just find myself using slow fall and jumping off incorrectly, or just porting back to Dalaran to get my stuff done. As far as the Heart of Azeroth necklace goes... ok I guess? Azerite gear is also not that interesting to me nor is gathering up azerite power. I also don't like the command table as I don't feel any of the rewards are really worth it anymore. I hope these are two things that aren't going to keep following us forward. Sorry to all those who enjoy those things. *waves* I'm hoping as the expansion goes by I become more comfortable with it and find my place. Despite my critiques, I still have high hopes and look forward to what the next parts of the story bring to the table.

Battle for Azeroth

It's been way too long since I've written a post. Something similar to this was supposed to go up around the announcement of Battle for Azeroth at Blizzcon. How about we have another watch of that amazing cinematic. I'll post it here so you don't have to go searching for it. Here you go.

Let me say that once again Blizzard's cinematic department has hit the ball out of the park. Previous to this one, my favorite cinematic was the from Wrath of the Lich King. It has now been replaced with this one. I play both Horde and Alliance, but I have never been a fan of Sylvanas. I do really liked seeing her screeching banshee form, and I wish that would get added in game for when the opposing faction tries to kill her (or maybe if she becomes a boss, heh heh.). However, Anduin wins this one for me. Tossed into a war and struggling to fit into his new role as King, he shows off his powers by mass healing most of the Alliance there, including Greymane. Though he's a priest, he's no pushover, but he definitely doesn't fits the role of warrior either. I love seeing a more emotional side to a masculine character, and I hope Blizzard doesn't turn him into a ruthless killing machine. I believe in the upcoming book leading into BfA, we will learn more about the decisions of both factions that lead them to the events in the cinematic. It's said that Horde may be the cause of the first strike, but all details are still too fuzzy for me to start pointing fingers.

I finally had a chance to look through most datamined things since Alpha started. New expansions always have me worried. I know what you're thinking, "Vel, it's still too soon!". You're right, but it's never too early to show some concern for my favorite game. I just never want to go through another Warlords type expansion. The biggest complaints I've seen have been some threads on Reddit about the quality of the Nightborne model. Some people think they look way too different from their NPC counterparts and that the true Nightborne look was lost in the process. Were these models tossed out too soon so that players could experience the new level scaling? Who knows. I haven't purchased the expansion yet, so I haven't had a chance to see them up close for myself. I will say that I am disappointed in the allied races. I only speak for myself, but they are something I never really wanted. I personally would have been much happier with more added customization options to our current races along with that long waited update to the goblin and worgen models.

Quiet contemplation

I am a little worried on the questing in the new zones. I usually play through the story first as Horde, then follow up on my Alliance character. This is the first expansion that I'm considering doing this opposite because the Kul Tiras zones seem much more interesting to me than the troll area of Zandalar. I'm also concerned that each questing experience is only three zones per faction. It doesn't seem like much, though I'm sure once everything is in place, it will feel much larger. I usually never have complains on the zones or questing. Those have always been a pleasure.

I don't have enough information about other things I'd like to talk about, but I'd love to know more about warfronts. The gear from them look amazing and what was teased at Blizzcon looked really interesting. In fact, I've been impressed with most of the gear so far. The questing sets from Kul Tiras are perfect island themed, and the gear from warfronts look like a direct throwback to the Warcraft RTS games. There's so much more I can sit here and speculate on, but I'd rather wait until closer to launch where we hopefully know more. So how do you feel about Battle for Azeroth? Are there things you are excited for or things that concern you? If you pre-ordered, how are you liking the allied races so far? If you got into alpha, do you have any comments about your experience? Leave me a comment below. I look forward to hearing from you!