For the first time in perhaps ever, or at least since WotLK, I feel like I’m actually playing the current version of WoW when everyone else is - and it’s a pretty fun experience.

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My Hunter is well geared (solely through World Quests), finished with all the Achievements for BfA Pathfinder Part One, unlocked the Zandalari Troll and Mag’har Orc allied races, reunited with Hati, confronted Jaina in the Dazar’alor raid, and just recently polished off some Lovecraftian old god spawn in the new Crucible of Storms raid.

The raids were both in LFR mode, which has it’s share of detractors, but is a godsend for those that don’t have a guild to raid with and just want to see the story.

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This has all happened incrementally through logging on and doing daily quests, taking whatever new quests were dropping in the patch cycle, and generally exploring the world. I’m still not a great fan of the Horde-side BfA zone designs, a feeling reinforced by the various allied race and Hati quests that send you scurrying around the old worlds. But overall I’ve really enjoyed the slow but marked process through the new content.

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Logging on today I was surprised to realise that I was more or less ‘done’ - there was no reason to do the world quests on offer, the raids were completed, and any gear upgrades on offer were incremental at best. That’s a very unusual position to be in for me, but kind of satisfying. Slight spoiler, but also super satisfying has been following the Baine storyline and helping him defy Sylvanas and become the leader the Horde needs. Those Bloodhoof are good people.

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What would be ideal next is to have a cadre of friends to run Mythic dungeons and Normal raids, but that’s not looking likely anytime soon. Our Alliance-side is still working through Vanilla dungeons and our not-so-new-player’s Horde character is only just starting Northrend (and admirably insists on doing every possible quest in each expansion, so it’ll be a while ‘til 120). So a max-level group activity will have to wait for the next expansion in late ~2020. Or Classic!

For now it’s time to level some alts, wait for 8.2 to drop (which I’m really looking forward to), and polish off the last few Fishing Achievements.

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Our Alliance adventures have continued apace, and we’re now down to the final seven before we can advance to the BC suite.

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We finished off the Scarlet sequence by cleansing Scarlet Monastery, another lovely piece of dungeon design, with the appearance of Lillian Voss being a highlight - and also a highlight of BfA as it turns out. One of Blizzard’s great strengths is allowing secondary characters to grow and feature through the course of many expansions, and Lillian’s story is one of the best. It’s not too spoilery to say her role as a shepherd for fresh Undead in BfA is superbly done.

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Next up were the Razorfen pair, not as interesting but still good romps.

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Last week was the twists and turns of Maraudon. A strange mix of dinosaurs, centaurs, and noxious slime, and a very handsome elemental queen - and apparently the mother of the Centaur? My Tauren self was pleased to finish her off in that case.

During the Maraudon run I suddenly realised I was gaining XP, despite having switched if off at level 60 to allow us to continue queuing for the lower level instances. Somehow patch 8.1.5 had switched XP back on. I promptly forgot about it and then was horrified to ding 61 after killing Theradras. One of our party cleverly suggested a cursed DK could take the place of my Dwarf, and that seemed like the only way to continue, but I was very sad to have to abandon my Paladin. I raised a pleading ticket to Blizzard to reverse the level, not expecting it to be possible, but was amazed to find it was! They promptly downlevelled me to 60, and even froze the XP too. All praise to support rep Sehtovkt for the assistance, and Blizz for being flexible.

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And finally, this week we ventured into Scholomance, another beautiful instance. There are so many great design elements in there, from the Flesh Horrors to the Bored Students, and the Gothic nature of the ruins themselves. After the Mists redesign, it’s also one of the few early dungeons that requires watching mechanics, not just tank & spanking - our returning friend Lillian Voss, cursed by Darkmaster Gandling, even managed to wipe our party. Our revenge on Gandling was all the sweeter as a result.

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I finally finished off Nazmir, enjoying it more as the storylines all wrapped up - helps having the end in sight no doubt.

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I bumbled around choosing which zone to go to next, eventually settling on Vol’dun, as I was tired of Trolls. And oh boy was I glad I did. The first person you meet is this magical creature:

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They’re called Vulpera, and they’re the best thing in WoW since the Highmountain Tauren. If this had have been the first zone I played, I think my entire attitude to BfA would have been different.

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As many have said, if these guys aren’t the next Horde allied race then Blizzard are mad. I think it would even get Bhagpuss to stump up for a sub, given his #1 favourite race ever were the Vanguard Raki (‘Stocky foxes with a great backstory, characterful animations and the happiest faces’).

I can’t wait to play one. Please Blizzard.

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On the Alliance side, we ventured into Scarlet Halls last week, which is another great dungeon. It’s the first one that introduces more complex mechanics to the bosses, which meant we dutifully wiped a few times due to only being practiced in tank and spank. Suddenly having to deal with damage spikes and insta-kill mechanics was a whole new thing, but all the more fun as a result.

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The second run through had a memorable moment, when everyone wiped on the boss’s killer whirlwind mechanic except me. This left the boss on about 33% health, so I started popping all my defensive cooldowns, healing almost constantly, and doing very tiny chunks of damage to the boss and his adds. Ironically his mechanic (where he whirls off on his own for ~20 seconds) made it possible, as I could heal almost to full each time before he returned.

It’s my first experience of how a Paladin can just keep going and going whilst chipping away at the enemy and eventually wearing them down via sheer persistence. Otherwise known as boring them to death!

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Blizzcon this year was fairly light on big news, which was kind of expected given the expectation-hosing Blizzard did before the show even begun, and which was disappointing enough for some (like Syp) to say the show should have been cancelled.

I guess for a newshound maybe it was a let down, but people on the ground seemed to have enjoyed it, and despite the lack of huge announcements there was plenty to absorb, made easy by the top notch reporting from BlizzardWatch. could not find image

The Overwatch news was very thin, with the only real announcement being the reveal of Ashe, who looks like a great addition (and has been immediately adored by the fanbase). I wonder if Blizzard intentionally unveiled a Western themed hero in the same week as Red Dead Redemption 2 dropped? Seems a little too evil genius I think - and an opening weekend of US$750m for RDR2 wipes everything else off the map.

Meanwhile over in Warcraft land, there’s the remastered Warcraft III, which excited a lot of people, and a bunch of ‘coming soons’ for Warcraft itself. None of which were earth-shattering, but there was a general lifting of the mood around WoW as a result, with the feeling that the developers are starting to get in the expansion groove and listening and responding to the fans. Perhaps there’s hope for BfA yet? Plus, Tauren Heritage armour!

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The biggest Warcraft news was saved for the Vanilla version, with the launch being set for mid 2019, and perhaps most surprisingly the fact that it will be ‘free’ for existing subscribers. This is a nice bonus if you’re already playing, as it means there’s no cost to trying it out, and I guess Blizzard’s theory is that those who sub just for Vanilla will also end up having a go at ‘real’ WoW. Smart thinking, and probably worth leaving the money (and potential ill will) on the table that would have come from charging extra for current subscribers. could not find image

The panel went into a lot of detail about getting the old code and assets working on the new platforms, and the BlizzardWatch liveblog is well worth reading to understand just how tricky it all is - stuff like finding the old source code (on a backup of a backup!), first bug fixes, lighting, art assets, terrain rules, it’s all a fascinating and rare look behind the scenes.

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It was also encouraging to read just how strict Blizzard are being about Vanilla. There are plenty of shortcuts that could be added, but most are being denied. Hour long waits for mail, goblin auction houses, and no dungeon finder. It’s going to be pretty close to the real thing, but with a modern engine, and no real shortcuts - unlike the LotRO ‘Legendary’ server which is probably allowing cash shop advantages, something that seems like a mistake at first glance.

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Blizzard also going to be staging the content releases, adding raids and dungeons as they were originally available. That’s great news as it allows time for guilds to work through content slowly, which is probably going to be a requirement given the legendary grinds that used to exist.

People who tried the limited Blizzcon beta were already remembering just how clunky things were (the hunter dead-zone, dying a lot, ammo, weapon skills, feeding your pet), but there’s also great features like the old talent trees, a greater sense of purpose in planning your upgrades and progression, and the charm in activities like collecting for its own sake in the pre-achievement driven world.

It’s a tremendous experiment (and hopefully experience), and will interesting to see how long it thrives.

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I tried, BfA, I really tried.

My Hunter main is sitting at 112, bogged down in the swamps of Nazmir. The storyline is mostly enjoyable, but like Syp, I tired of the brown and grey environment very quickly, and it seems to go on forever. I’m sure I’ll get to 120 eventually, but the swamp and the fact that Trolls have unfortunately never appealed to me means the expansion has really failed to get its claws in.

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Luckily, and somewhat surprisingly, I’ve been having great fun with my levelling Dwarf Tank. Trying the ‘other side’ has always been a long term goal, and I’m very pleased to be finally doing it. The Alliance really does have quite a different feel, despite fulfilling the same collect x of y quests, where there is far more emphasis on being right, and being the ‘good guys’ when compared to the barbaric Horde.

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All of which is rubbish of course, but I’m embracing my Alliance righteousness: wearing ‘the Hordebreaker’ as my title and laying waste to any Horde that crosses my path. With the exception of Tauren of course - on one escort quest I kept the NPC alive rather than killing the Tauren warriors, though I’m not sure how sustainable this policy will be.

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It’s been refreshing playing zones I’ve never seen too, all the Eastern Kingdom Alliance only areas, and now Darkshore (post-Cataclysm but pre-Sylvanas horrorshow). Some of the questing and storytelling is excellent, with the ridiculous Bravo Company of Redridge Mountains being a particular highlight.

So too Duskwood (end of the zone to the other and back quests excepted), which included some lovely personal stories and a fun crypt section which was a brand new layout for the normally predictable underground territory.

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Dungeon runs have continued apace, and we’re now up to Scarlet Cathedral. It’s been great revisiting the dungeons in sequence and with a group of friends, meaning we can take our time to scheme and laugh our way through. Shadowfang Keep has probably been the pinnacle of the early dungeons - it’s terrific being on the battlements seeing out into Silverpine Forest - though the hilarity of pet-pulling half of Gnomeregan and the ‘rope trick’ in Blackfathom Deeps also rate highly.

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All of which is making me fear it’s more likely I’ll end up experiencing BfA from the Alliance side before the Horde. Then again - our dungeon group has a pact to play all the dungeons together before advancing, so at one a week it will be years before we catch up to current content. Phew. For the Horde!

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