I took a bit of a break from the WoW grind last night…  I’m very nearly 78, and Terri is still 76, so I didn’t want to get too far ahead of her.  Plus all that focus on questing and leveling and progression hasn’t left me with a whole lot of time to smell the roses.  So, last night, I determined that I’d go see the sights…

I hopped on my Netherwing Drake and just started flying around.

My first stop was the Sholazar Basin.  I picked up a quest in Dalaran that asked me to go looking for Hemet Nesingwary there, so off I went.  Looks like his expedition ran into some difficulties…  He’s camped beside the wreckage of something that looks like it was once a fairly large boat.  There’s no flight path immediately available at Nesingwary’s camp, but it looks like you can run some quests to unlock one.  I didn’t bother with that, I just went sightseeing…

Sholazar Basin reminds me of Un’Goro crater - tropical, lush, mysterious.  I kept getting a very strong Jurassic Park/Land of the Lost/Center of the Earth vibe from the place…but maybe that’s just because of my recent Jules Verne kick.  I also stumbled across some new minerals to mine - Saronite.  It’s a nice change from all the Cobalt I’ve been mining, and hopefully it’ll sell for a decent price.

Next I headed off to Zul’Drak, which is apparently a giant trollish fortress/city.  The whole zone is built in that Aztec-ish style that trolls like so much.  But it’s been over-run by the scourge.  Undead everywhere.  Very dark, depressing, imposing.  I found a couple camps with flight paths and quests available…  But I didn’t really see anything that amazed me the way some of the other zones have.  It really felt like a dark version of Zul’Gurub or Zul’Aman - except without all the raid bosses.

After I was done there I headed over to Crystalsong.  As far as I can tell this zone was basically built just to house Dalaran.  It’s relatively small and there isn’t a whole lot going on here.  There’s some woods, some rivers, a bunch of Malygos’s mage hunters, some ley-lines and glowing trees…  There’s a couple quest hubs, with flight paths, but there really just isn’t much to the zone.

Next, I headed up north to the Storm Peaks.  The entire zone consists of rugged mountains punctuated with Titan construction.  I suspect that it would be virtually impossible to navigate this zone without a flying mount.  I was constantly soaring up one mountainside and then diving down the other.  The Titan buildings look very cool…  Very ornate…  Again, I was getting a strong steampunk vibe from them.

The last zone I explored was Icecrown…  This zone is dark, imposing, and creepy.  Lots of huge, spiky buildings and towering walls.  It reminded me a lot of Mordor from Lord of the Rings, except it is dark and cold instead of burning.  Again, I suspect it would be very difficult if not impossible to navigate this zone without a flying mount.  Lots of mountains, cliffs, walls, and enemy camps.  There’s also a couple gigantic flying machines in the area…  Both the Horde and the Alliance have some kind of flying quest hub in the zone.  Very cool.

Exploring all those zones got me an achievement for exploring Northrend, and a really ugly tabard.  I still need to explore Kalimdor to get the world explorer achievement though…

I also ran through Azjol-Nerub last night some folks from my guild.  The dungeon itself was pretty impressive…  It’s populated with a bunch of Nerubians, who remind me quite a bit of the Silithid, but a little more spidery than generically insectoid.  The architecture of the place was just plain horrible…  It was basically a giant hole in the ground, with remnants of actual construction here and there, and the whole thing was held together with some very insubstantial-looking spiderwebs.  I had to carefully avoid looking at the ground because it made me dizzy.  It constantly looked like I was going to plummet to my death at any moment.

I was once again surprised at the length of the dungeon…  Or, rather, the lack of length.  Every instance I’ve run through in Northrend has been very, very short.  The Nexus, Utgarde Keep, Drak’Tharon Keep…  They’re all very short.  Seems weird to me…  Hopefully the raid zones will be longer and more involved than these normal instances are.

I spent most of the weekend playing WoW.  I’ve gotten my Warlock up to 77 now, and trained the Cold Weather Flying skill, so I can now fly in Northrend.  It’s amazing how quickly that changes the way you look at the world around you.

When you’re stuck to the ground you’re forced to go basically where Blizzard wants you to go.  You have to, more or less, follow their roads.  You can be channeled into valleys and passes.  They can make sure you’ll run into their ambush, or meet a messenger on the road, or stumble across the scene of a battle.  They can do this because you can’t just fly up and over obstacles - you have to go around them.

And that’s all very handy from Blizzard’s point of view.  It means that they can make sure you get the storyline stuff in the right order.  You can’t fly over the top of a key plot point and skip ahead to the next section.  And I understand that.  But it’s also a pain in the ass.

It’s annoying to constantly have to dodge agro.  It’s annoying to have to follow a road as it winds around the countryside.  It’s frustrating to have to go all the way around a wall, when your objective is just on the other side.

So, being allowed to fly again is great.  It is truly liberating.  Getting around a zone is no longer as painful.  Completing quests is suddenly much easier.

But this isn’t the first time I’ve been mounted in Northrend.  There have been a number of great quests that have put me on temporary mounts - usually with special abilities.  I had to swoop in on a gryphon to rescue villagers that were being attacked by the scourge.  I had to use a gnomish flying machine to fight off attacking gargoyles.  I’ve fought battles from the back of a dragon.  I tossed flaming oil from the back of a horse as we ran from werewolves.

All of which has been a lot of fun…  But it isn’t the same as being able to jump on your own flying mount and take to the skies whenever you want.

So, yesterday was Thanksgiving.  Terri got the day off on account of her slaving over a hot stove every other day of the year, so I did the cooking.  Everything turned out surprisingly well.  Not that I really thought I’d ruin everything…  I can cook fairly well usually…  But a big ol’ Thanksgiving dinner is a little imposing.

I, of course, ate far too much.  Piles of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, pumpkin pie…  It’s amazing that I didn’t rupture something yesterday.

I also spent a good chunk of the day yesterday playing WoW.  My Warlock is now 76, and my Death Knight is 62.  I’m more-or-less done with Dragonblight…  There are still a few group quests for me to do there, but I’ve had enough.  Some of those quests were pretty frustrating and I’m glad to be out of the zone.  I’m currently grinding in Howling Fjord - technically a step backwards, as the zone is lower level, but it’s a lot of fun.

I haven’t played Left 4 Dead again since that first session.  It was certainly fun, but I’ve been tied up in WoW almost nonstop.  That’s the problem with the holiday season in general - excess.  Too much stuff going on, too much to do, not enough time for any of it.  I’ve still got to play through Red Alert 3, and I wanted to try Fallout 3, and I never did finish Dead Space…

The best part though, is that it is only Friday night.  I’ve had two full days off from work, and I’ve got two more to go.  Very nice.

I dragged Terri though the Wrathgate stuff last night, so I can now discuss it in-depth.

I’m really impressed with what Blizzard has done with the Wrathgate encounter.  Not so much because it’s a great quest, or there’s wonderful loot, or because the cutscene is dramatic…  But more what it means for MMOGs from a technical standpoint.  What it means Blizzard is able to do with storylines and quests in the future.  And I’m very eager to see where this goes.

For folks who don’t know what I’m talking about…  After a series of quests at Wintergarde Keep you wind up meeting Bolvar Fordragon at Fordragon hold, right outside the Wrathgate.  The Wrathgate is a gigantic structure that looks like it was ripped right out of Lord of the Rings.  It’s a huge, imposing gate blocking the way to Icecrown.

Fordragon launches an attack on the Wrathgate, calling on Arthas to show himself and answer for his crimes.  The Horde shows up to help in the attack on the Wrathgate, fighting right along-side the Alliance.  You get a great in-game cutscene that shows this epic battle.

Pretty much everyone dies.  You are tasked with bringing Fordragon’s shield to King Wrynn in Stormwind.  And then you go on a diplomatic mission to Orgrimmar.  And then you get to fight to retake The Undercity.  It’s all very epic.  It’s all very fun.  But, as I said, that isn’t really the point.

The point is that Blizzard has managed to introduce a real storyline into a MMOG.  This is the kind of action, arc, and development that you typically see in a single player game, not a MMOG.  As far as my Warlock is concerned, the world has been permenantly altered.  Bolvar is dead now.  I will not see him standing watch over Fordragon Hold.  The armies that were massed outside the Wrathgate are now gone, replaced with flaming debris.

By contrast, look at the old Onyxia attunement showdown…  It used to be that if you wanted to fight Onyxia, you had to get attuned.  Which meant a fairly long and involved series of quest, which ultimately resulted in a showdown in the Stormwind throneroom.  Turns out Onyxia was there the whole time, in disguise, advising the child king.  There’s a big showdown.  She’s revealed for who she is.  Several of the guards are revealed to be dragonkin.  There’s fighting.  Eventually Onyxia flees the scene.

And if you wait a few minutes Onyxia will re-appear, in the guise of the child king’s advisor.  She’ll be right back where she was before you unmasked her.  And if you wait a little while longer someone else will come along who’s working on that attunement quest as well, and you’ll get to see the whole showdown again.

If you hung out in the throneroom for a few hours you’d see Onyxia unmasked a good dozen times.  Over and over again.  And even though you had personally unmasked her…  Even though you had personally gone to her lair and killed her…  Even though her head was hanging from Stormwind’s gates…  She was still there, standing beside the child king, waiting to be unmasked once again.

It really hurt the idea of WoW as a living, breathing world when you saw such an obvious example of basic game mechanics.  They couldn’t leave her dead, because she had to be there for the next personto do their quest.  So she’d just re-appear, over and over and over again - regardless of what you had done.  The world was never permenantly changed.  Nothing you did ever had a lasting impact on anything.

Until now.  Now you can actually change the world.

I saved a number of townsfolk in Wintergarde keep, and they’re permenantly saved.  They’re at work in the inn.  If I come back tomorrow, or next week, they’ll still be there.  They won’t need to be saved again in ten minutes, or an hour, or a week.  Sure…someone else may need to save them…  My other characters will need to save them…  But as far as my Warlock is concerned, they’re saved.  It is done and over with.  They’re safe and happily serving drinks at the local inn.

And Bolvar is dead.  The attack on the Wrathgate ended in disaster.  The armies have been reduced to ashes and flames.  I can wait around all day long and I won’t see anybody else launch an attack on the Wrathgate.  Bolvar isn’t going to miraculously re-appear to lead the attack again.

Yes, that Wrathgate encounter was impressive…  But what I’m really excited about is the new dimension this adds to gameplay.  I am now able to permenantly change the world around me.  That’s something I’ve been wanting to do in MMOGs for years now.  And I’m dying to see what other changes I’m going to be allowed to make.

I spent most of the weekend playing WoW…  Didn’t do much on my Death Knight, focused almost entirely on my Warlock.

I located the floating city of Dalaran, out in Crystalsong, but I wasn’t allowed to go up to it.  I guess you need to be 74 to be allowed in Dalaran.  Unless you’re a mage…  And Terri was quick to grab the appropriate quests and tell me how wonderful it was up in Dalaran just as soon as she could.  So I decided to grind my way to 74 just as quick as I could.

I managed to burn through two levels on Sunday, hit 74, and ran off to Dalaran to see the sights…

Dalaran is certainly cool.  It reminds me a lot of the Blood Elf architecture you see in various places.  Which makes sense, I guess.  Blood Elves used to be High Elves, and they were always very magical.  The city is far more friendly to foot traffic than Shattrath ever was.  It feels more like a real city.  You’ve got streets that wind around buildings…  An assortment of shops and inns…  I’m a little disappointed that there are no trainers or auction houses in Dalaran - you have to port back to the capital cities just like you had to in Shattrath.  I was kind of hoping they wouldn’t do that again.

But, honestly, the trip to 74 was far more interesting than seeing Dalaran was.

I did a bunch of quests for the dragons at Wyrmrest Temple.  They had me flying around on the back of a dragon, fighting off other dragons.  They had me holding back waves of the undead.  I had to help out the Bronze Dragonflight, and the Obsidian Dragonflight, and the Emerald Dragonflight…

Then I wound up over at Wintergarde Keep fighting back the scourge.  The place was under assault - undeads everywhere.  Zombies, ghouls, death knights, abominations…  People running, screaming, dying.  And I actually managed to make a difference.  I saved a bunch of villagers that were otherwise going to get eaten.  The inn, when you first arrive, is deserted.  After you save a bunch of villagers though the inn is able to re-open.

I also got to see the battle of the Wrathgate, which was simply awesome - in the purest sense of the word.  I can’t say any more, because Terri hasn’t completed it yet…  But, wow.  Best moment in any MMOG I’ve ever played.

So, I’m 74 now.  I’m done with the Dragonblight.  I’ve completed every quest that I could find out there with the exception of a couple dungeon quests and a few group quests.  I’m not quite sure where I go to from here…  I have, for the moment, gone off to Howling Fjord to do some easy quests and see the countryside.  And there were a couple silver quests that weren’t available to me yet in the Dragonblight.  But I’m really not sure what is the next zone for me.  Maybe the Grizzly Hills?