Seeking, Exploring and Dinging
Skarlette dinged level 79 last night (and hit honored with the Argent Crusade in the same quest turnin, woot!) Only one level to go, and I've done zero quests in the Storm Peaks, like three in Icecrown, and a handful in Sholazar. Plenty to do and see yet, but I'll be earning gold instead of XP. ;)
I also got two big achievements in the last two days, each with titles. I completed my 3000th quest while in Sholazar, earning the title "The Seeker." Last night I explored the last corner of the Northrend map, earning the title "The Explorer" and an epic tabard. No really, it's an epic tabard. No stats, but it's epic quality. Heh. Too bad it clashes with my current outfit.
Speaking of my outfit, I'm getting frustrated by the lack of upgrades to my level 70 epics. I've replaced one trinket, my cloak, my wand (twice), and my headpiece. I've gotten countless quest rewards that are nice, but not nicer than my current gear. They'll have a ton of stat A and stat B, but zero for stats C and D, making it overall a sidegrade at best.
Then a few level 80s in the guild, including the GM, were telling me that you get diminishing returns from your level 70 epics as you level. Like, even though it says "+61 spellpower" on your pants, when you're 80 it won't actually grant you that much. WTF? That makes no sense to me. I certainly haven't noticed any of my stats dropping, but then I don't watch them as closely as some theorycrafters. But the way they made it sound, a level 70 epic with +61 spellpower would actually give you LESS damage than a level 78 blue with +54 spellpower. Again, WTF? Does anyone know if this is true?
Opinions of zones so far, more or less in the order I've done them:
Howling Fjord: LOVE it. It's gorgeous, it feels epic, it's loaded with Norse-influenced content, and I managed to do all the quests without aggroing a Storm Giant even once! The quest where you track a hippogryph to find out that it's a mommy guarding its nest was cool. And the quest line where you get to turn into a worg was awesome.
Grade: A
Borean Tundra: It was okay, but I'm glad I did the Fjord first. The landscape is dirty and, at times, downright ugly. The magnataur hill and caverns were really annoying, and the respawn rate at that one quarry is insane. However, the dragon lore and the AWESOME murloc quests make up for it.
Grade: B
Dragonblight: Epic scenery, incredible amounts of lore, dragons everywhere--including Korialstrasz and Alexstrasza, squee! And Frostmourne Cavern ZOMG!!! And the beach where Arthas burned his ships! EEE! LOREGASM!
Grade: A+
Grizzly Hills: Very pretty scenery. Some neat lore. I dinged 77 there and got to fly again so that made me happy. Seeing the gang from Westfall show up was cool. The escape from the worgen on horseback was actually SCARY. Yeep! The outhouse quest was hilarious. Too many annoying PVP areas to avoid, though.
Grade: B+
Zul'Drak: This is one fugly zone. It's also confusing to navigate in, since so many of the buildings look the same. The questgivers' outposts are scattered all over the place. On the other hand, the idea of a huge troll city the size of an entire zone is pretty cool, and the panther goddess was awesome.
I also enjoyed the quest line where you have to pretend to be a ghoul and infiltrate a necropolis. Controlling abominations to blow up trolls was fun. The last step where you have to kill the troll boss by taking control of the mutant troll was frustrating at first, and I racked up a 12g repair bill dying like five times until I got the hang of it. Finally I ran into a warlock who had been in the guild a couple of years ago, in the days of level 60 endgame, and we grouped to finish it with no problems. The bit with the Lich King afterward was great, how he let me live because I amused him with my subterfuge. XD I emoted /thanks to him for that. I also /clapped when he one-shot the troll. Heh.
Grade: B-
Sholazar Basin: I can't really form a solid opinion of the zone yet because I haven't done much there. So far, I love the scenery, and parachuting into the zone on a mission from Dalaran was fun.
Grade (so far): B+
As I said, I haven't really done anything much in Icecrown or Storm Peaks yet, so I can't say much about them. From flying over to get the map uncovered, I love the epic, dangerous feel of both, and the place names are oozing with Norse mythology, so that's cool.
I also got two big achievements in the last two days, each with titles. I completed my 3000th quest while in Sholazar, earning the title "The Seeker." Last night I explored the last corner of the Northrend map, earning the title "The Explorer" and an epic tabard. No really, it's an epic tabard. No stats, but it's epic quality. Heh. Too bad it clashes with my current outfit.
Speaking of my outfit, I'm getting frustrated by the lack of upgrades to my level 70 epics. I've replaced one trinket, my cloak, my wand (twice), and my headpiece. I've gotten countless quest rewards that are nice, but not nicer than my current gear. They'll have a ton of stat A and stat B, but zero for stats C and D, making it overall a sidegrade at best.
Then a few level 80s in the guild, including the GM, were telling me that you get diminishing returns from your level 70 epics as you level. Like, even though it says "+61 spellpower" on your pants, when you're 80 it won't actually grant you that much. WTF? That makes no sense to me. I certainly haven't noticed any of my stats dropping, but then I don't watch them as closely as some theorycrafters. But the way they made it sound, a level 70 epic with +61 spellpower would actually give you LESS damage than a level 78 blue with +54 spellpower. Again, WTF? Does anyone know if this is true?
Opinions of zones so far, more or less in the order I've done them:
Howling Fjord: LOVE it. It's gorgeous, it feels epic, it's loaded with Norse-influenced content, and I managed to do all the quests without aggroing a Storm Giant even once! The quest where you track a hippogryph to find out that it's a mommy guarding its nest was cool. And the quest line where you get to turn into a worg was awesome.
Grade: A
Borean Tundra: It was okay, but I'm glad I did the Fjord first. The landscape is dirty and, at times, downright ugly. The magnataur hill and caverns were really annoying, and the respawn rate at that one quarry is insane. However, the dragon lore and the AWESOME murloc quests make up for it.
Grade: B
Dragonblight: Epic scenery, incredible amounts of lore, dragons everywhere--including Korialstrasz and Alexstrasza, squee! And Frostmourne Cavern ZOMG!!! And the beach where Arthas burned his ships! EEE! LOREGASM!
Grade: A+
Grizzly Hills: Very pretty scenery. Some neat lore. I dinged 77 there and got to fly again so that made me happy. Seeing the gang from Westfall show up was cool. The escape from the worgen on horseback was actually SCARY. Yeep! The outhouse quest was hilarious. Too many annoying PVP areas to avoid, though.
Grade: B+
Zul'Drak: This is one fugly zone. It's also confusing to navigate in, since so many of the buildings look the same. The questgivers' outposts are scattered all over the place. On the other hand, the idea of a huge troll city the size of an entire zone is pretty cool, and the panther goddess was awesome.
I also enjoyed the quest line where you have to pretend to be a ghoul and infiltrate a necropolis. Controlling abominations to blow up trolls was fun. The last step where you have to kill the troll boss by taking control of the mutant troll was frustrating at first, and I racked up a 12g repair bill dying like five times until I got the hang of it. Finally I ran into a warlock who had been in the guild a couple of years ago, in the days of level 60 endgame, and we grouped to finish it with no problems. The bit with the Lich King afterward was great, how he let me live because I amused him with my subterfuge. XD I emoted /thanks to him for that. I also /clapped when he one-shot the troll. Heh.
Grade: B-
Sholazar Basin: I can't really form a solid opinion of the zone yet because I haven't done much there. So far, I love the scenery, and parachuting into the zone on a mission from Dalaran was fun.
Grade (so far): B+
As I said, I haven't really done anything much in Icecrown or Storm Peaks yet, so I can't say much about them. From flying over to get the map uncovered, I love the epic, dangerous feel of both, and the place names are oozing with Norse mythology, so that's cool.