Warcrafting: Elwynn Forest, 1: Northshire
I find that I simply really do have most fun playing discipline priests right now; everything else gets old more quickly. I know myself more than well enough to know that this kind of enthusiasm won't go on forever, but since it's here now, you'll be getting priest's-eye view on stuff for the moment. Other folks will no doubt cover other perspectives. :) I expect that few of these characters will move on to the higher levels, it's just that they're very comfortable companions for me to go see the new stuff.
I've taken human priest Siwan through the first ten levels today, with screenshots covering all of Elwynn Forest. I have a lot of pictures, and a lot I may want to say, so I've decided to break it into either two or three parts. Here are her first five levels, in the training area of Northshire Abbey.
Every character launches with a short movie - 45 seconds or so - that zooms from the vicinity of that race's capital city to their starting zone. For humans, that's Stormwind City, where Deathwing lands and bellows at the end of the Cataclysm cinematic, down into the heart of Elwynn Forest and then off into a valley on the north side of the zone. I didn't record this, but am happy to pass it along:
There's a transition from the cinematic to player control, with your character facing their first quest giver. For humans, that's Marshall McBride:
He's a constant of the game, there since day 1, doing his best to get a whooole lot of novice heroes started.
Before starting in on quests, I sent Siwan to look a little at the abbey's exterior and immediate environs. The abbey has two wings, one running to the east, one north; the entrance perches in between them with an opening to the southwest.
All of the starting zones are busier than they used to be; everyone's got fresh urgency, and resources being shifted around to deal with new concerns as best they can. Until the Shattering, the abbey was flanked only by a couple of wagons with vendors of basic gear, and a few scattered individual trainers and quest givers. Now there's this recruiters' tent right there, and more bustle all around:
The very first quest shows off the new era and its priorities. It used to be that new human heroes began by dealing with stray wolves and kobold bandits interfering with the mine at the valley's north end. There are still wolves in the vicinity, but they're part of a new problem:
I was a little surprised to find that there's a whole front line around that side of the abbey. PCs aren't fighting the peril alone:
The second quest had another surprise. It's now the case that when your character's quests have specific targets, you'll get a portrait and some descriptive notes alongside. This is a feature I'm really glad to see WoW picking up from other MMOs, and I'll be interested to see how they work with it further now that it's there:
Here's Siwan dishing out a Smite spell against one of those spies:
WoW has always had the initial quest giver give your character a letter of some sort written by that character's first class trainer, saying an appropriate form of "hi, come over and learn some stuff". Still does:
Now there's a new standard step. The trainer for each class explains a bit about the first ability your character learns to go along with the one they started out knowing, and provides an opportunity to use it:
I didn't really need this, but I liked it - I tend to feel that warm-up practice is just plain a good idea.
Before heading out for more questing, I had Siwan check out the abbey's interior:
Then it was back to questing, this time a pair of missions up past the abbey at another lil' outpost:
Here's one of the quests:
The other is to heal wounded soldiers, using an assist from veteran medic/priest Brother Paxton. The healing, and the appreciation:
The trouble north of the abbey isn't anything compared to what's to the east, though:
In better days, Milly Osworth gave characters a simple quest to help gather the grapes in her vineyard, a way for novices playing humans to learn about using in-game items. Now it's a different story, though the quest does still introduce item use:
The fire extinguisher is a delight, with spinning bronze plates:
Here Siwan sees the new trouble. Everything in front of her used to be green and fresh, but clearly won't be for a good long while to come:
Out in the invaded area, Siwan smites orcs and extinguishes fires:
A follow-up quest sent Siwan against the commander of this bunch of invading orcs:
And that was the end of her preparations:
Here's Siwan in all the gear she earned as quest rewards. It is sooo much better-looking than its predecessors, feeling integrated and just plain cool in a way darned few low-level characters ever used to:
And on her way out of Northshire, toward the village of Goldshire, Siwan encountered another new feature. The starting zones have always had some NPC guards, but usually single individuals or pairs on foot. Now there are larger groups on the move, like this one:
That's it for this time. More to come!
I've taken human priest Siwan through the first ten levels today, with screenshots covering all of Elwynn Forest. I have a lot of pictures, and a lot I may want to say, so I've decided to break it into either two or three parts. Here are her first five levels, in the training area of Northshire Abbey.
Every character launches with a short movie - 45 seconds or so - that zooms from the vicinity of that race's capital city to their starting zone. For humans, that's Stormwind City, where Deathwing lands and bellows at the end of the Cataclysm cinematic, down into the heart of Elwynn Forest and then off into a valley on the north side of the zone. I didn't record this, but am happy to pass it along:
Click to viewThere's a transition from the cinematic to player control, with your character facing their first quest giver. For humans, that's Marshall McBride:
He's a constant of the game, there since day 1, doing his best to get a whooole lot of novice heroes started.
Before starting in on quests, I sent Siwan to look a little at the abbey's exterior and immediate environs. The abbey has two wings, one running to the east, one north; the entrance perches in between them with an opening to the southwest.
All of the starting zones are busier than they used to be; everyone's got fresh urgency, and resources being shifted around to deal with new concerns as best they can. Until the Shattering, the abbey was flanked only by a couple of wagons with vendors of basic gear, and a few scattered individual trainers and quest givers. Now there's this recruiters' tent right there, and more bustle all around:
The very first quest shows off the new era and its priorities. It used to be that new human heroes began by dealing with stray wolves and kobold bandits interfering with the mine at the valley's north end. There are still wolves in the vicinity, but they're part of a new problem:
I was a little surprised to find that there's a whole front line around that side of the abbey. PCs aren't fighting the peril alone:
The second quest had another surprise. It's now the case that when your character's quests have specific targets, you'll get a portrait and some descriptive notes alongside. This is a feature I'm really glad to see WoW picking up from other MMOs, and I'll be interested to see how they work with it further now that it's there:
Here's Siwan dishing out a Smite spell against one of those spies:
WoW has always had the initial quest giver give your character a letter of some sort written by that character's first class trainer, saying an appropriate form of "hi, come over and learn some stuff". Still does:
Now there's a new standard step. The trainer for each class explains a bit about the first ability your character learns to go along with the one they started out knowing, and provides an opportunity to use it:
I didn't really need this, but I liked it - I tend to feel that warm-up practice is just plain a good idea.
Before heading out for more questing, I had Siwan check out the abbey's interior:
Then it was back to questing, this time a pair of missions up past the abbey at another lil' outpost:
Here's one of the quests:
The other is to heal wounded soldiers, using an assist from veteran medic/priest Brother Paxton. The healing, and the appreciation:
The trouble north of the abbey isn't anything compared to what's to the east, though:
In better days, Milly Osworth gave characters a simple quest to help gather the grapes in her vineyard, a way for novices playing humans to learn about using in-game items. Now it's a different story, though the quest does still introduce item use:
The fire extinguisher is a delight, with spinning bronze plates:
Here Siwan sees the new trouble. Everything in front of her used to be green and fresh, but clearly won't be for a good long while to come:
Out in the invaded area, Siwan smites orcs and extinguishes fires:
A follow-up quest sent Siwan against the commander of this bunch of invading orcs:
And that was the end of her preparations:
Here's Siwan in all the gear she earned as quest rewards. It is sooo much better-looking than its predecessors, feeling integrated and just plain cool in a way darned few low-level characters ever used to:
And on her way out of Northshire, toward the village of Goldshire, Siwan encountered another new feature. The starting zones have always had some NPC guards, but usually single individuals or pairs on foot. Now there are larger groups on the move, like this one:
That's it for this time. More to come!