Welcome back to another Warcraft post. I know, I have written about it a lot in the past few weeks, but this should be the last time for a while. Today I will be detailing the first three days of the new expansion. We begin our journey an hour before Mists goes live.
Many players got stuck while waiting for the server lag to clear.
Day One – 22:00 – Just got in from work, fridge is stocked with snacks. I log on vent to socialise with my guild while we get ready for a long grind. Bags emptied, supplies bought, I sit outside the trainers ready to pick up the next tier of my professions as soon as Mists becomes live.
Blizzard have chosen not to bring the servers down before launch this time round, so when Pandaria becomes active everything should just switch on and be available. Some of the heavily populated servers have already gone offline as they struggle to cope with the influx of players; thankfully I play on medium population server.
22:55 – Five minutes before anyone expects it, the expansion is live! A quest pops up to take me to the first of the new zones. I buy my skills and off I go. After a quick chat with the king, I go to find the airship that will take me to the new continent. I paid attention to the quest, though some people did not and spent ages walking on the ground or searching the harbour.
The first quest is an on-rails shooter in a vehicle. Not too hard, shoot sixty horde and blow up a couple of ships. Sounds like fun.
23:10 – Whose idea was it to use a vehicle right away? The lag has kicked in now and made the game unplayable. The quest requires aiming, though between the movement of the gyrocopter and other players targeting the same object that I need, it is almost impossible to hit anything.
Too many pandas!
23:56 – First quest finished! The lag is easing somewhat now, though it still makes the game difficult to play. It only seems to have affected the new zones though, as players have had no problems with pet battles or creating monks (the new class added with Mists). Recruit-a-friend levels work with the new class, so there are already level eighty monks in the game.
01:00 – Many server firsts have come and gone already. Gathering is easy to level and went very quickly, though gear crafting professions are still up for grabs. A friend and I got a realm first each last time, so we aim to get them again.
03:00 – It seems others know how to level very quickly. There are already level eighty-eight players on my server, though I have not even reached eighty-six yet.
It is around this time that the world first level ninety was awarded, though the player was later rolled back as he was found to be using an exploit.
05:00 – After gaining my first level, I decide it is a good time to sleep. A full day at work has left me in no condition to play all night, so I logged off and kissed my hopes of a server first goodbye.
12:00 – I wake up and log on to find a few people have played through the night. My friend got realm first blacksmithing, and told me leatherworking was still available. An hour later I am down fourteen thousand gold, but I got my realm first.
The rest of the day was spent leveling. I hit eighty-seven and team up with another friend to conquer the third zone. When we both reach eighty-eight we call it a night.
The battle system is deeper than it initially looks.
Day Two – After a good nights sleep, I find that three people in my guild are already level ninety and are starting their dailies. I decided to take a break from leveling for a while to try the new pet battle system. It is Pokémon. After training, a quest is given that is basically a tutorial, though it soon sends me off to battle master trainers.
The chain is rather long and takes place in zones that would be visited while leveling a new character. This is obviously something Blizzard have added to pull in new players. After fighting some of the trainers and capturing a few new pets I returned to the level grind. By the end of the day I was level ninety and tried some daily quest only available to players of that level. I had work in the morning, so heroics would have to wait for another day.
Day Three – After some research at work I find that my plan to make a fortune in the expansion could be in jeopardy. I wanted to sell the new trinket produced through crafting, but found that one the materials I needed could only be made once a day. Each trinket requires a minimum of eight, so I recruit friends to produce them for me. I will be rich again!
One observant player noticed that a guild realm first had not been handed out yet. This requires that a guild has all the professions in the game at max level between the players in the guild. We worked out what was missing and set about helping the players who were closest max. Our efforts rewarded the guild with the achievement, appropriately titled “working better as a team”.
By now we had six level ninety players, so the rest of the evening was spent in dungeons. At midnight the Brewfest event started, so we farmed the seasonal boss for gear. after an hour of mindless slaughter we called it a night and logged off.
Readers, have you been playing Warcraft? What interests you most about the new expansion? Let me know in the comments!
